SPP1 and cancer: Li et al. (2011) demonstrated that it was an important independent prognostic factor for disease-free interval and is upregulated in the nodal metastasis of colon tumors. Conversely, Yang et al. (2013) did not find an association between IFITM3 expression and lymph node metastasis in breast cancer. El-Tanani et al. (2010) even drew the opposite conclusion; they deemed that IFITM3 may inhibit the proliferation, development and metastasis of cancer by reducing the expression of osteopontin.