HGF and liver cancer: In malignant liver tumor patients serum HGF concentrations were significantly increased 30 min after partial hepatectomy compared with the pre-operative levels and returned to the pre-operative levels 7 days after operation (1045.2 – 494.1 vs 618.3 – 145.2 vs 750.5 – 326.1 pg/mL, p &lt; .05, respectively) (Fig. 2).