- Angiopoietin-2 sensitizes endothelial cells to TNF-alpha and has a crucial role in the induction of inflammation. Fiedler, U., Reiss, Y., Scharpfenecker, M., Grunow, V., Koidl, S., Thurston, G., Gale, N.W., Witzenrath, M., Rosseau, S., Suttorp, N., Sobke, A., Herrmann, M., Preissner, K.T., Vajkoczy, P., Augustin, H.G. Nat. Med. (2006)