HGF and hepatocellular carcinoma: In order to assess if AXT050 influenced the signaling of similar pathways in hepatocellular cancer cell lines we investigated the effect of the peptide on the phosphorylation of c-Met and IGF1R receptors as well as the common downstream mediators of survival, Akt, and proliferation, Erk 1/2, in HepG2 cells following exposure to HGF or IGF1 (Figure 2A–2D).