HGF and infection: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), transforming growth factor (TGF), insulin-like growth factor (IGF), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) are growth factors that play a significant role in regulating cell differentiation, apoptosis, morphogenesis, embryogenesis, angiogenesis, wound healing, hematopoiesis, inflammation and infection, tumorigenesis, and immunity in humans (Kempen et al., 2010; Goel and Mercurio, 2013; Rijcken et al., 2014; Mitchell et al., 2016).