A preclinical study of synstatin using a rat HCC model showed that inhibiting HCC in vivo by downregulating the integrin αvβ3 receptor reduced activation of the angiogenic growth factors, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF/FGF-2) [29], suggesting that this could be a promising targeted therapy in HCC. The gene discussed is VEGFA; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.