A method of diagnosis or prognosis of a disease or characterisation of a genotype or genetic sequence which method comprises providing a nucleic acid sample and determining the nature of one or more genetic variants of an MMP-9 gene. Also described are oligonucleotides which hybridise to variants of a polymorphic sequence in the MMP-9 gene or its reverse complement. The method and oligonucleotides are of particular use for the diagnosis and prognosis of diseases characterised by metalloproteinase mediated remodelling, such as atherosclerosis, tumour invasion and metastasis, or inflammatory disease.
