We have previously shown in human keratinocytes and a cell line in which transformation can be turned on and followed by the inducible expression of the E7 oncogene of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16), that intracellular alkalinization is an early and essential physiological event driven by the up-regulation of the Na/+H+ exchanger isoform 1 (NHE1) and is necessary for the development of other transformed phenotypes and the in vivo tumor formation in nude mice. Here, SLC9A1 is linked to neoplasm.