EZR and cancer: Expression of TMIGD1 both at the protein levels as previously reported [10, 27] and at the mRNA levels (Additional file 1: Figure S4A) is downregulated in RCC indicating that downregulation of TMIGD1 is a primary mechanism of its alteration in human RCC, which may also account for deregulation of downstream signaling mechanisms such as signaling by the ERM family proteins moesin and ezrin in human cancer cells.