Hepatocyte Growth Factor
Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) is cleaved by serine proteases into a 69-kDa alpha chain and a 43-kDa beat chain. HGF is secreted by mesenchymal cells, targeting and acting primarily upon epithelial cells and endothelial cells. HGF acts as growth factor for a broad spectrum of tissues and cell types though it has no detectable protease activity; it serves as a ligand for the receptor tyrosine kinase MET by binding and promoting its dimerization. HGF is a potent mitogen for mature parenchymal hepatocyte cells.
Swiss-Prot Accession Number: P14210
