ESM1 and cancer: The release of Endocan by cultured endothelial cells has been largely described to be strongly upregulated in presence of proangiogenic molecules such as VEGF, FGF-2, and VEGF-C that are critical mediators involved in angiogenesis (i.e., formation of blood vessel), lymphangiogenesis (i.e., formation of lymphatic vessel), and cancer progression (spreading and metastasis) [23, 28, 35, 36, 39, 66].