Methods are provided for selecting and treating patients with an anti-angiogenic agent and methods for reducing the risk of adverse events in patients from treatment with an anti-angiogenic agent, comprising the steps: obtaining a sample of tumor and normal tissues from a patient determining the miRNA or protein expression in said samples comparing the miRNA or protein expression in said tumor sample to the miRNA or protein expression in normal tissue determining whether said tumor miRNA or protein expression is higher or lower than said normal miRNA or protein expression, wherein if said miRNA or protein expression indicates that the expression of at least one angiogenic gene is upregulated, the patient is scheduled for treatment with an anti-angiogenic agent. Preferably the anti-angiogenic agent is a VEGF-targeting agent or a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. In preferred embodiments, the VEGF-targeting agent is bevacizumab.