An independent set of eight HBs and one HB lung metastasis was also evaluated by immunohistochemistry, in a qualitative analysis; the pattern of protein expression was indicative of activation of the CX3CL1/CX3CR1 pathway, with a predominance of proteins expression in the cytoplasm of tumor cells, similarly to our previous observation (Supplementary Table 5). Here, CX3CL1 is linked to neoplasm.