HGF and Fulminant hepatic failure: In 1984, Russell et al. identified and purified HGF in rat platelets (Nakamura et al., 1984; Russell et al., 1984; Nakamura et al., 1987), and Gohda et al. purified human HGF from the plasma of fulminant hepatic failure patients in 1988 (Gohda et al., 1988).