Therefore, the 88 NSCLCs examined were classified into three groups according to stromal HGF status and intratumoral c-Met status; one group in which six patients had tumours that exhibited both positive stromal HGF and intratumoral c-Met expression; a second group in which 38 patients had tumours which demonstrated either positive stromal HGF or intratumoral c-Met expression; and a third group where 44 patients had tumours that showed negative expression for both HGF and c-Met. Here, HGF is linked to neoplasm.