Our findings could be clinically relevant in the setting of an adjuvant anti-EGFR therapy given that, independently from the well-known autocrine or paracrine HGF supply by tumor cells and/or tumor associated fibroblasts, it has been shown that HGF serum levels are elevated after surgery as part of the wound-healing process.37, 38, 39 However, the duration of this process in patients is unclear. This evidence concerns the gene EGFR and neoplasm.