HGF and cancer: In addition to HGF, TGF-β1 has been shown to be another potent inducer for the EMT of cancers.50,51 Since it has been documented that plasmin is involved in TGF-β1 activation,24,52 we investigated whether the HAI-2-plasmin axis could modulate TGF-β1 activation for the EMT of NSCLC.