Description
Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) is a multifunctional growth factor which regulates both cell growth and cell motility. It exerts a strong mitogenic effect on hepatocytes and primary epithelial cells. HGF synergizes with Interleukin-3 and GM-CSF to stimulate colony formation of hematopoietic progenitor cells in vitro and may, therefore, also modulate hematopoiesis. HGF is secreted as a single inactive polypeptide which is cleaved by serine proteases into a 69kDa Alpha chain and 34kDa Beta chain. A disulfide bond linking the alpha and beta chains produces the active heterodimeric molecule