HGF and breast cancer: Both HGF and IGF1 activated signaling pathways lead to BC cell proliferation, migration and invasion, and are critically involved in the induction/maintenance of EMT and cell stemness, which are fundamental in metastatic spread and resistance to anti-cancer treatments (Malaguarnera and Belfiore, 2014; Christopoulos et al., 2015; Owusu et al., 2017).