Gene set enrichment analyses (GSEA28) of the aforementioned differentially expressed genes (DEG) revealed decreased enrichment of pathways related to inflammation (e.g., CCL23), cytokine signaling (e.g., IL4R), adhesion (e.g., VCAM1, ITGA1), and apoptosis (e.g., TNFRSF8), suggesting reduced cell-cell (paracrine) signaling and a shift towards tumor-microenvironment (TME) independence2,15 (Figure 2B for Cancer Hallmarks, Figure S2A for KEGG Pathways, and Table S6 for the enrichment score of all pathways). The gene discussed is VCAM1; the disease is cancer.