HGF, is a pleiotropic protein in the Plasminogen subfamily of S1 peptidases. Mouse HGF is secreted as an inactive 728 amino acid (aa) single chain propeptide. It is cleaved after the fourth Kringle domain by a serine protease to form bioactive disulfide-linked HGF with a 60 kDa alpha and 30 kDa beta chain. HGF binds heparan-sulfate proteoglycans and the widely expressed receptor tyrosine kinase, HGF R/c-MET. HGF regulates epithelial morphogenesis by inducing cell scattering and branching tubulogenesis. It can also alter epithelium morphology by the induction of nectin-1 alpha ectodomain shedding, an adhesion protein component of adherens junctions.
