HGF and cancer: Jeffers and his group generated several fibroblast cell mutants (NIH 3T3 cells) that were inoculated in mice models, and compared to the wild type, M1258T; Y1248H; D1248H; D1246N; Y1248C; V1238I; V1206L, and M1149T clones induced tumor growth in mice.186 These mutations were identified with high frequency in patients with RCC.187–190 Furthermore, several in vivo studies have demonstrated that the activation of the HGF–cMET signaling pathway is a critical factor in promoting cancer invasion and metastasis.191,192