HGF and inflammatory bowel disease: The importance of this interaction has not been explored in the context of IBD; however, in a mouse model of periodontitis, an inflammatory disease characterized by the pathologic increase in the expression of TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-6 similar to IBD, telocytes have been shown to promote a shift in macrophage polarization from the pro-inflammatory M1 state to a tissue-remodeling M1/M2 state via the HGF/c-Met signaling pathway (Zhao et al., 2022).