These included paracrine-acting secretory proteins, such as FGF-1 and −2, hepatoma-derived GF (HDGF), HDGF-related proteins 2 and 3, myeloid-derived GF, stromal/stem cell-derived factor-1 and epidermal GF-like proteins 6 and 7. Here, HDGF is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.