ANGPT2 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Moreover, inhibition of the Tie2 receptor suppressed tumor neovascularization and growth in an HCC mouse model, leading to the suggestion that, in addition to serving as a Tie2 antagonist, Ang-2 may possibly also activate Tie2 as an agonist, resulting in stimulation of a fundamentally different signaling pathway compared to Ang-1 [19].