One limitation of our study is that due to the complete absence of nodal metastases in the FVB MMTV-Δ16HER2 mouse model, we could not assess the impact of EMILIN1 loss on the maintenance of lymphatic homeostasis and the regulation of lymph nodal spreading, as previously observed in other cancer types14,28,40. The gene discussed is EMILIN1; the disease is cancer.