Nevertheless, the aberrant activation of c-Met and downstream signaling pathways through overexpression of HGF or c-Met, gene amplification, mutational activation of c-Met, down-regulation of Met-targeted miRNA, binding to other ligands, autocrine signaling or abnormally high HGF levels initiates and drives tumorigenesis and promotes tumor growth, invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis in HCC. The gene discussed is HGF; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.