With its potential role in driving collagen deposition and organization (Ding et al.2024; Li et al.2024), SPP1 regulates various pathological events associated with extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling, including calcification (Grau et al.2012), tumor progression (Matsubara et al.2023) and fibrosis (Hoeft et al.2023; Song et al.2021). The gene discussed is SPP1; the disease is neoplasm.