Since Timp1 is present in the conditioned media of pre-malignant 4C melanocytes and 4C11- and 4C11+ melanoma cells, but not in melan-a melanocyte, and it interacts with proteins expressed on the cell surface, such as CD63 and β1-integrin, the next step was to analyze the ability of soluble Timp1 to confer anoikis resistance to melan-a cells. The gene discussed is CD63; the disease is melanoma.