TGFA and cancer: Although our study lacks longitudinal serum samples in the control group, a previous study (33) assessed the long-term stability of immune markers in cancer-free individuals and found fair to good intraindividual reproducibility for MIP-1α [intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.57], VEGF (ICC = 0.55), and TGF-α (ICC = 0.48).