| CPC C12Q 1/6886 (2013.01) | 22 Claims |

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1. A method comprising:
a) measuring a level of expression of a panel of genes, RNAs, or proteins, in a test sample obtained from a synthetically-engineered pre-metastatic niche (pMN) implanted in a subject having or suspected of having cancer, wherein the test sample comprises immune cells and stromal cells and wherein less than 10% of the cells in the test sample are tumor cells;
b) determining that the subject has an increased metastatic potential based upon the level of expression of the panel of genes, RNAs, or proteins in the test sample relative to a control level or a level of expression at an earlier time point; and
c) administering an anti-metastatic disease treatment to the subject determined in b) to have an increased metastatic potential, to thereby treat the subject for metastasis,
wherein the subject is a mammal, and
wherein the panel of genes, RNAs, or proteins comprises two or more of the following: S100 Calcium Binding Protein A8 (S100a8), S100 Calcium Binding Protein A9 (S100a9), Peptidoglycan Recognition Protein 1 (Pglyrpl), Lactotransferrin (Ltf), Cathelicidin Antimicrobial Peptide (Camp), Elastase 2 (Ela2), Chitinase (Chi313), Bone Morphogenetic Protein 15 (Bmp15), C-C Motif Chemokine Ligand 22 (Cc122), C-C Motif Chemokine Receptor 7 (Ccr7), granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), interleukin 1-alpha (IL-1a), interleukin-12p70 (IL-12p70), interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-X-C motif chemokine 5 (Cxc15), interleukin-15 (IL-15), C-X-C motif chemokine 10 (Cxcl10), C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (Cc12), C-X-C motif chemokine 9 (Cxc19), and C-C motif chemokine ligand 5 (Cc15).
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