Molecular cloning of feline hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) cDNA

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a pleiotropic cytokine responsible for re generation, development and maintenance of various organs, and growth, inva sion and metastasis of tumor cells. A full-length feline HGF cDNA was clone d and sequenced by RT-PCR from cat liver. Feline HGF consists of 728 amino acid and contains alpha- and beta -chains encoded in a single open reading frame. The predicted amino acid sequence of feline HGF showed 93.2, 93.3 an d 93.3% homology with those of human, mouse and rat HGF, respectively. The putative proteolytic processing site, all cysteine residues, and four poten tial glycosylation sites are conserved in all species. Therefore, feline HG F is expected to have a similar three-dimensional structure to human, mouse and rat HGF.