Recombinant Human HGF, Tag Free

Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) also known as scatter factor and hepatopoietin A, is a pleiotropic protein in the plasminogen subfamily of S1 peptidases. It is a multidomain molecule that includes an N-terminal PAN/APPLE-like domain, four Kringle domains, and a serine proteinase-like domain that has no detectable protease activity ^[1-5]. Human HGF is secreted as an inactive 728 amino acid (aa) single chain propeptide. It is cleaved after the fourth Kringle domain by a serine protease to form bioactive disulfide-linked HGF with a 60 kDa alpha and 30 kDa beta chain. Alternate splicing generates human HGF isoforms that lack the proteinase-like domain and different numbers of the Kringle domains. Human HGF shares 91%-94% aa sequence identity with bovine, canine, feline, mouse, and rat HGF. HGF binds heparan-sulfate proteoglycans and the widely expressed receptor tyrosine kinase, HGFR/c-MET^{[6, 7].} HGF-dependent c-MET activation is implicated in the development of many human cancers ^[8]. HGF regulates epithelial morphogenesis by inducing cell scattering and branching tubulogenesis ^{[9, 10]}. HGF induces the up-regulation of integrin alpha 2 beta 1 in epithelial cells by a selective increase in alpha 2 gene transcription ^[11]. This integrin serves as a collagen I receptor, and its blockade disrupts epithelial cell branching tubulogenesis ^{[11, 12]}. HGF can also alter epithelium morphology by the induction of nectin-1 alpha ectodomain shedding, an adhesion protein component of adherens junctions ^[13]. In the thyroid, HGF induces the proliferation, motility, and loss of differentiation markers of thyrocytes and inhibits TSH-stimulated iodine uptake ^[14]. HGF promotes the motility of cardiac stem cells in damaged myocardium ^[15]. 

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