Hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor-induced intracellular signalling

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) identical to scatter factor (SF) is a glycop rotein involved in the development of a number of cellular phenotypes, incl uding proliferation, mitogenesis, formation of branching tubules and, in th e case of tumour cells, invasion and metastasis. This fascinating cytokine transduces its activities via its receptor encoded by the c-met oncogene, c oupled to a number of transducers integrating the HGF/SF signal to the cyto sol and the nucleus. The downstream transducers coupled to HGF/MET, most of which participate in overlapping pathways, determine the development of th e cell's phenotype, which in most cell types is dual.