TIMPs, tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases, are the body's own blockers of MMPs and related enzymes. Humans have four, TIMP-1 to TIMP-4.
Also called tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases, TIMP-1, TIMP-2, TIMP-3, TIMP-4.
TIMPs are found widely across the animal kingdom, and the human genome carries four TIMP genes (Brew 2010). They were first characterised as MMP inhibitors and also block several ADAM and ADAMTS enzymes, which makes them key regulators of the enzymes that break down the matrix around cells (Brew 2010). They have other roles too, in cell growth, migration and cell death (Brew 2010).
Active MMP13 was inhibited one to one by TIMP-1, TIMP-2 and TIMP-3: each TIMP molecule disables one enzyme molecule (Knäuper 1996).
Some studies measure TIMPs alongside MMPs. AKBA from boswellia raised TIMP-1 while suppressing MMP13 in rats (Abo-Zalam 2025), and chondroitin sulphate raised TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 in a human cartilage cell line (Hsu 2022).
In two main ways. Cells release MMP13 as an inactive proenzyme that must be cut before it works, and the body makes its own inhibitors, the TIMPs. TIMP-1, TIMP-2 and...
In animal and lab studies, yes. AKBA, the lead boswellic acid, suppressed MMP13 in rats with chemically induced knee damage, and a frankincense extract lowered MMP13...
The lab evidence is thin and mixed. Glucosamine lowered MMP13 in one study of human cartilage cells and stem cells, but in another it didn't change cytokine-driven...