However, when we further analyzed expression of ITGA5 and ITGB3 and their association with prognosis in GC patients, we found only ITGA5 was significantly upregulated in GC tissues and associated with poor prognosis of GC patients, indicating ITGA5 may be the functional mediator of AFAP1L1 in GC (Fig. 5E, Additional file 2: Fig. S4C, S4D). Here, ITGA5 is linked to gastric cancer.