In line with our data, the function in adhesion and phagocytosis was first described for the evolutionarily conserved protein Phg1A, homolog of TM9SF4 in Dictyostelium [4, 6] and subsequently also observed in Drosophila haemocytes, immunosurveillance cells acting in a similar manner to cells of the mammalian monocyte and macrophage lineage [8], and later in human tumor cells [11]. Here, TM9SF4 is linked to neoplasm.