HGF and cancer: Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are known to be the main cellular components of TME, which by secreting multiple factors including EGF (endothelial growth factor), VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor), and HGF (hepatocyte growth factor), can metastasize cancer cells by disrupting and rupturing the ECM via the RTK signal pathway (Anton et al., 2017; Nadhan et al., 2020b).