HGF and liver disorder: Growth factors have been used as targets for gene therapy in the field of liver disease, as shown in a study in which HGF-overexpressing BMSCs (BMSC-HGF) promoted an improved recovery from liver damage in a model of CCl4-induced cirrhosis in rats, increasing the expression of hepatic proteins HNF-4α, CK18 and ALB (2 to 3.5-fold greater than untreated control) and reducing the presence of liver injury markers, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and total bilirubin, compared to the other groups tested (Zhang Y. et al., 2018).