HGF

Overview

HGF (hepatocyte growth factor) is the ligand for the MET receptor tyrosine kinase and a key regulator of cell growth, motility, and morphogenesis. In cancer pharmacogenomics, HGF expression level is a predictor of sensitivity to MET/ALK inhibitors, establishing it as a biomarker alongside MET amplification.

Alterations observed in the corpus

  • HGF expression predicts sensitivity to PF-2341066 (crizotinib/MET-ALK inhibitor) across 947 cancer cell lines in the CCLE pharmacogenomic profiling study PMID:22460905
  • HGF overexpression is associated with poor prognosis and sorafenib resistance in HCC; tivantinib failed in MET-high HCC (mechanism may be MET-independent); low plasma HGF showed a non-significant trend toward greater sorafenib benefit in the SHARP biomarker substudy. PMID:24798001
  • E199K activating mutation recurred between the cSCC NGS cohort and a prior 11-tumor cSCC study, suggesting a functional role PMID:25589618
  • HGF alteration in 3% of HCC cases (243-case European WES cohort); enriched in alcohol-related HCC; listed as FDA-targetable; co-occurs with MET amplification (1%) in the MET/HGF RTK pathway PMID:25822088

Cancer types (linked)

  • HGF expression-driven MET pathway activation has been assessed pan-cancer across 947 cell lines from diverse lineages in the CCLE; specific cancer-type enrichment for HGF-driven sensitivity to PF-2341066 not detailed beyond MET-amplified lines PMID:22460905

Co-occurrence and mutual exclusivity

  • HGF expression as a drug sensitivity predictor acts in parallel with MET amplification; both features converge on sensitivity to PF-2341066 PMID:22460905

Therapeutic relevance

  • High HGF expression predicts sensitivity to PF-2341066 (crizotinib), a MET/ALK inhibitor, in the CCLE pharmacogenomic profiling of 947 cancer cell lines PMID:22460905

Open questions

  • Whether HGF autocrine/paracrine signalling independently predicts crizotinib sensitivity in the absence of MET amplification in specific tumor lineages requires further characterisation.

Sources

This page was processed by crosslinker on 2026-05-14. - PMID:24798001

This page was processed by crosslinker on 2026-05-14. - PMID:25589618

This page was processed by crosslinker on 2026-05-14. - PMID:25822088

This page was processed by crosslinker on 2026-05-14.