HGF and atherosclerosis: It has been found that AD patients have increased levels of markers of atherosclerosis including fractalkine/CX3CL1, CCL8, M-CSF, and HGF, as well as increased levels of mediators of atherosclerosis such as E-selectin or PI3/elafin, CCL17, and IL-16, which are proportional to SCORAD [27].