HAVCR2 and central nervous system cancer: One study reported that Tim-3 promotes glioma cell proliferation, and increased levels of Tim-3 enhance angiogenesis by inducing transdifferentiation of glioma stem cells into endothelial cells and by stabilizing vascular base membranes, which was implicated as a mechanism by which Tim-3 furthers the progression of gliomas (Hegi et al., 2005).