HGF and cancer: Upregulations of EGF (epidermal growth factor) and HGF (hepatocyte growth factor) can be observed in the Paneth cells from the compensated patients, leading to the upregulations of multiple pathways related to cell growth (Fig. 7A).The trend was reversed in both decompensated patients with the downregulation of EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) and cancer-related transcription factors MYC or MYCN (Fig. 7B, C).