We claim that higher pulmonary endothelium permeability 24 h after i.v. and, consequently, higher levels of Ang-2 (Figure 3B), E-selectin (Figure 3C) and MMP-9 (Figure 3D) 2 days after i.v., provided more favourable microenvironemnt for the increased settlement of 4T1 breast cancer cells in the lungs of dabigatran-treated mice. The gene discussed is MMP9; the disease is breast cancer.