This supports a previous report where in breast tumors, ITGA9 expression was downregulated or totally absent in 44% of cases and intact or upregulated in 45% of cases, and the frequency of ITGA9 promoter methylation was 90% in the former group; while treatment with the demethylating agent 5-aza-dC restored integrin α9 expression in ITGA9-negative cells of the MCF7 line18. Here, ITGA9 is linked to breast neoplasm.