Transcripts associated with M2 protumor functions, such as angiogenesis (vascular endothelial growth factor signaling), metalloprotease activity, fibrosis and cancer metastasis, were expressed at higher levels in TAMs compared with NTAMs (figure 1E), which was further confirmed at a more global level, by GSEA (figure 1F and online supplementary table S2). This evidence concerns the gene VEGFA and cancer.