According to the western blot results, we found that si-ITGB4 treated ccRCC cells expressed lower levels of N-cadherin, Vimentin and the EMT-associated transcription factor, ZEB1, accompanied with overexpression of E-cadherin (Fig. 2f, Additional file 5: Fig. S1a). Here, ZEB1 is linked to nonpapillary renal cell carcinoma.