Human Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF), also known as scatter factor, is a pleiotrophic cytokine that shows homology to the enzymes of the blood coagulation cascade. It stimulates the motility and invasion of several cancer cell types and can induce angiogenesis. Recently HGF was found to be identical to scatter factor, a fibroblast-derived factor promoting the dissociation of epithelial and vascular endothelial cell colonies in monolayer cell cultures by stimulating cell migration. HGF is synthesized as a biologically inactive single chain precursor, which is cleaved by a specific, extracellular serum serine protease to a fully active heterodimer. Alternative Names: Scatter Factor protein, SF protein, HPTA protein, Hepatocyte Growth Factor protein, Hepatopoietin protein