MERTK and neoplasm: This cluster contained 13 (36%) of the candidate genes (HMOX1, CCL2, PPARG, MAP3K5, HRAS, IRF7, ADORA2A, IRAK2, NT5E, TNFRSF11A, MERTK, RAG1, SMAD2) assigned to the cell surface receptor signaling pathway (p = 2.28e-05) and cellular response to cytokine stimulus (p = 2.28e-05), which are known to be involved in modulation of the lymph node microenvironment during tumour metastasis.