The strength of association is also supported in the identified studies by: (1) a demonstrable dose-response relationship with higher Ang-2 levels in severe sepsis and organ dysfunction, and increasing with increasing severity of illness, and (2) a temporal progression with Ang-2 levels increasing over time in those patients who developed sepsis and in patients with increasing severity of sepsis as defined by SIRS, sepsis and septic shock. Here, ANGPT2 is linked to systemic inflammatory response syndrome.