Tumour-associated macrophages appear to stimulate angiogenesis by either direct or indirect mechanisms that increase the levels of pro-angiogenic factors (such as VEGF, HIF-1α and CCL18) (Guo et al., 2016; Lewis et al., 2016; Noy and Pollard, 2014; Deryugina and Quigley, 2010) or by transdifferentiation into endothelial-like cells that are capable of forming tubular structures (Asahara et al., 1997; Chen et al., 2009; Coukos et al., 2007). This evidence concerns the gene VEGFA and neoplasm.