Aiming at investigating which genes and pathways could drive lymphomagenesis in OPN-/- Faslpr/lpr mice, we performed gene expression profiling (GEP) on CD19 + B cells, purified through magnetic beads from the spleen of Faslpr/lpr and tumour-bearing OPN-/-Faslpr/lpr mice at 5 months of age, when OPN-deficient autoimmune mice already show evident signs of lymphomas. The gene discussed is SPP1; the disease is lymphoma.