Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is the most potent mitogen of mature hepatocytes in primary culture. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants, at least one of which encodes a preproprotein that is proteolytically processed to generate alpha and beta chains, which form the mature heterodimer. This protein is secreted by mesenchymal cells and acts as a multi-functional cytokine on cells of mainly epithelial origin. HGF is a pleiotropic cytokine which exerts a variety of effects on several cells, being involved in the regulation of many biological processes, such as inflammation, tissue repair, morphogenesis, angiogenesis, tumour propagation, immunomodulation of viral infections and cardio-metabolic activities.
