HGF and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: We then demonstrated that miR-503 expression correlated with IL-6, -8, PGE2, HGF, KGF, and VEGF release from lung fibroblasts and that IL-8 and VEGF release from COPD lung fibroblasts were increased compared to those from control in the absence or presence of IL-1ß and TNF-α.