This conservation of the expression of the M-CSF signatures upon disease progression is promising when considering targeting of the M-CSF pathway as a therapeutic option for invasive and/or metastatic disease, and suggests that the presence of a M-CSF/macrophage signature in the primary tumor may be useful for patient stratification to identify those patients who are most likely to respond to M-CSF/macrophage-targeted therapies. The gene discussed is CSF1; the disease is metastatic neoplasm.