Apart from structural remodeling of the ECM scaffold, the cell mechanical cues on the ECM network are important players in the malignant progression of cancers, including elevated motility via the IPP complex created by focal adhesion adaptor proteins, such as PINCH1 (Mierke et al., 2022), ILK-1 (Kunschmann et al., 2017) and Parvin. The gene discussed is ILK; the disease is cancer.