CSF2 and cancer: Iurisci et al. [68] also showed that higher Gal-3 in blood of cancer patients could induce the vascular endothelial cells to secrete more cytokines like colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), leading to interactions among the cytokines, vascular endothelial and cancer cells, and ultimately increasing endothelial cells migration and tubule formation.