In addition, Liu et al. showed that the expression level of OTUD1 is downregulated and that of SOX9, a transcription factor that plays an essential role in sexual differentiation and chondrocyte differentiation, and SPP1, which encodes osteopontin, are inversely correlated and downregulate SOX9 and SPP1 in NSCLC [33]. Here, SOX9 is linked to non-small cell lung carcinoma.