There was no correlation between the pathological factors analyzed and HGF levels, whereas a significant correlation was found between c-Met, which is a receptor of HGF, and lymphatic vessel invasion (ly0.1 vs. 2.3; P=0.0416), lymph node metastasis (n0.1 vs. 2; P=0.0184) and maximum tumor diameter (≤50 mm vs. >50 mm; P=0.0469) (Table II). Here, MET is linked to neoplasm.