Takehitolmado et al. conducted preclinical studies in a GVHD mouse model and found that hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene transfection improves mouse survival and alleviates intestinal and thymic epithelial cell damage—this protective effect is hypothesized to be associated with the anti-apoptotic biological properties of HGF (58). Here, HGF is linked to graft versus host disease.