Currently, at least 17 Met inhibitors, including JNJ-38877605, GEN-203, and ARQ-197, are undergoing clinical trials.6 However, no selective Met inhibitors, such as SU11274 and Tepotinib, have been proven despite the encouraging wave of recent drug approvals for HCC.7–10 Due to adverse side reactions and limited therapeutic effects, many clinical trials of selected Met inhibitors were hindered at Stage II or III,11,12 There still remains a need for a clearer understanding of the HGF/Met pathway to accelerate Met-targeting strategy development. Here, HGF is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.