Updates on the hepatocyte growth factor/c-Met axis in hepatocellular carcinoma and its therapeutic implications

Figure 1 Representation of hepatocyte growth factor/c-Met canonical and non-canonical pathways in hepatocytes. Canonical pathway is activated by HGF release from stromal cells, and subsequent binding to the c-Met receptor inducing c-Met dimerization. Activated c-Met binds Gab-1, Grb-2, Shc, and STAT3. These proteins are involved in signal transduction regulating cell proliferation, migration, differentiation, or invasion, depending on the activated downstream proteins. The scheme represents the proteins described in the canonical pathway, but not all of the proteins involved in executing their cell activity. Non-canonical pathways are activated when a c-Met monomer binds to a monomer of another kind of receptor, or when a c-Met homodimer binds FAK or β-catenin on its cytoplasmic domain. The arrows represent different proteins performing different cell activities. HGF: Hepatocyte growth factor.