Within this cluster, we found several genes that are known to be involved in tumor progression e.g., the acute phase reactant Saa3, several chemokines (Ccl2, Ccl7, Ccl8, Ccl12) as well as several macrophage markers such as Emr1 (F4/80), Ccr5, Itgam (Cd11b) and CD68. One of the most regulated genes (as judged by fold change between control and tumor-associated adipose tissue) within this cluster was however C1qtnf3 (Table 1 and Figure 1D), an adipokine that to our knowledge has not previously been studied in the context of breast cancer progression. This evidence concerns the gene ITGAM and breast carcinoma.