Human HGF

HGF, also known as scatter factor and hepatopoietin A, is a pleiotropic protein in the plasminogen subfamily of S1 peptidases. Human HGF is secreted as an inactive 728 amino acid (aa) single chain propeptide. HGF binds heparan-sulfate proteoglycans and the widely expressed receptor tyrosine kinase, HGF R/c-MET. HGF can also alter epithelium morphology by the induction of nectin 1 alpha ectodomain shedding, an adhesion protein component of adherens junctions. In the thyroid, HGF induces the proliferation, motility, and loss of differentiation markers of thyrocytes and inhibits TSH stimulated iodine uptake (1-5) .