Although there was no correlation between pathological factors and immunostaining for HGF, a significant correlation was identified 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). The gene discussed is MET; the disease is neoplasm.