for the envisaged therapeutical uses , hgf from different sources can be used , for example from animal or human organs or from prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells transformed with genes coding for hgf . by the term hgf , an activated form of hgf is obviously meant , such as described in example 1 and 6 . the use of human recombinant hgf is preferred , but the invention also applies to all the possible variants of hgf , including any deletion and / or substitution mutant forms . the hepatocyte growth factors will be formulated in dosage forms suitable to the administration of protein substances . the formulations of the invention therefore will be administered preferably by the parenteral route and they can be prepared using conventional techniques and excipients , as described for example in remington &# 39 ; s pharmaceutical sciences handbook , mack pub . co ., n . y ., usa . anyhow , other administration routes already suggested for protein active principles , such as the nasal , sublingual , rectal and oral routes , cannot be excluded . for the latter , the active principle will suitably be protected from metabolic degradation making use of known techniques , for example the inclusion in liposome vesicles . the hgf dosage , according to the invention , may vary within wide ranges , for example from about 0 . 01 mg to about 10 mg of hgf , one or more times daily . the following examples further illustrate the invention . full - length hgf cdna was cloned from human liver mrna and inserted into the baculovirus transfer vector pvl1393 ( invitrogen , san diego , calif .). the recombinant vector was cotransfected with the bsul - digested bacpak6 viral dna ( clontech laboratories , palo alto , calif .) into spodoptera frugiperda insect cells ( sf9 ) by the lipofectin procedure ( gibco - brl , gaithersburg , md .). positive clones were identified and purified by dot - blot hybridization and plaque assay . the recombinant virus was used to infect sf9 cells with dilutions of 10 - 1 , 10 - 2 , 10 - 3 , 10 - 6 . after one week , the infected cell extracts were blotted on a nylon filter and probed with radiolabelled full - length human hgf cdna . the viruses containing the hgf cdna gene were subsequently purified by plaque assay . single viral clones were isolated and used for large scale infection of sf9 cells . the recombinant factor was purified by affinity chromatography on heparin ( biorad laboratories , hercules , calif . ), according to the procedure published by weidner et al ., 1990 , with some modifications . sf9 spodoptera frugiperda cells were grown at 27 ° c . in serum - free sf900 medium ( gibco ltd , scotland ). exponentially growing cultures were infected by adding the viral stock in serumfree culture medium , and the cells were grown for 3 days . the culture medium was then collected and was incubated overnight in the presence of 3 % foetal calf serum at 37 ° c ., to ensure full activation of the precursor ; it was then spun at 300 × g for 15 min , to remove cellular debris , and cleared by centrifugation at 10 , 000 × g for 1 h . the supernatant was buffered to ph = 7 . 4 with tris , supplemented with a mixture of protease inhibitors ( 1 mm pmsf , 50 μg / ml leupeptin , 10 μg / ml aprotinin , 4 μg / ml pepstatin ) and the detergent chaps to a final concentration of 0 . 2 % w / v , filtered on a 0 . 45 μm pore tuffryn membrane filter ( gelman sciences , ann arbor , mich .) by vacuum suction , cooled to 4 ° c . and applied to a 5 ml heparin - agarose column assembled in an fplc apparatus in the cold room with a loading rate of 8 ml / h . the column was sequentially washed with 0 . 15 m nacl , 50 mm tris - hcl ph = 7 . 4 , 0 . 2 % chaps and 0 . 5 m nacl , 50 mm tris - hcl ph = 7 . 4 , 0 . 2 % chaps until the eluant absorbance returned to the baseline . bound materials were eluted with a linear gradient from 0 . 5 m to 1 . 8m nacl over 8 h in 50 mm tris - hcl ph = 7 . 4 , chaps 0 . 2 %, with a flow rate of 0 . 2 ml / min , and 2 ml fractions were collected . the starting material , the column breakthrough and washings , and the eluted fractions , were scored for the content of hgf by the mdck scattering assay ( weidner et al ., 1990 ; naldini et al ., 1992 ). the fractions containing the peak of hgf activity , eluting at approximately 1m nacl , were pooled , concentrated with a diafiltration device with 30 , 000 molecular weight cut off ( amicon div ., grace industrial , switzerland ), checked for biological activity on mdck cells , and purity by sds - page and protein stains , to give pure hgf with an average yield of the procedure of 150 μg from 700 ml of culture supernatant . production of human recombinant pro - hgf in insect cells . hgf cdna was cloned from human liver mrna ( naldini et al ., 1991a ) and inserted as a bamhi - ecori fragment into the baculovirus transfer vector pvl1393 ( invitrogen ). the recombinant vector was co - transfected with the bsui - digested bacpak6 viral dna ( clontech ) into spodoptera frugiperda insect cells ( sf9 ), by the lipofectin procedure . positive viral clones isolated by dot - blot hybridization and plaque assay were used for large scale infection . hgf was obtained from culture supernatant of sf9 infected cells 72 hours post - infection , by affinity chromatography on a heparin - sepharose fplc column ( biorad ), eluted with a linear 0 . 5 - 1 . 8 m nacl gradient . the unprocessed recombinant factor ( pro . sup .• hgf ) was detected by comassie blue staining as a band of 90 kda in sdspage . protein concentration was estimated by comassie blue staining and comparison with a standard curve obtained with increasing amounts of bovine serum albumin . the effect of hgf on the growth and differentiation of hematopoietic progenitors was evaluated in colony formation assays . heparinized samples of bone marrow , fetal umbilical cord blood and adult peripheral blood , obtained from volunteers , were diluted with an equal volume of phosphate buffered saline ( pbs ), and separated by ficoll - hypaque 1077 sd ( pharmacia ) density gradient centrifugation at 550 g for 30 minutes . light - density mononuclear cells ( ld - mc ) were collected , washed twice in pbs and resuspended in iscove modified dulbecco &# 39 ; s medium ( imdm ) ( gibco ) supplemented with 5 % fetal calf serum ( fcs ). mononuclear adherent cells were then removed by a two steps incubation of 30 minutes each in plastic flasks at 37 ° c . mononuclear non - adherent cells ( mnac ) were incubated with neuraminidase - treated sheep erythrocytes for 15 minutes at 37 ° c ., centrifuged and incubated for 45 minutes at 4 ° c . t - lymphocyte - depleted mnac were separated by ficoll - hypaque 1077 sd ( pharmacia ) density gradient centrifugation . t - lymphocyte - depleted mnac were then incubated for 45 minutes at 4 ° c . with the following antibodies : anti - cd3 , anti - cd4 , anti - cd8 , anticd11 , anti - cd19 , anti - cd57 ; most of the remaining b - and t - lymphocytes , monocytes and granulocytes were thus removed by incubation for 45 min . at 4 ° c . with immunomagnetic beads coated with anti - mouse igg ( m - 450 dynabeads , dynal ), subsequently collected by a magnet ( mpc - 1 dynabeads , dynal ). a positive selection of the cd34 + cells was then performed : cells were incubated with an antibody anti - cd34 ( my - 10 ; technogenetics ) for 45 minutes at 4 ° c ., then for 45 minutes at 4 ° c . with immunomagnetic beads coated with anti - mouse igg ; a 4 : 1 beads / cell ratio was found to provide the best recovery . cd34 + cells bound to the beads were then collected by a magnet and resuspended in imdm supplemented with 10 % fcs . an overnight incubation at 37 ° c . was then performed ; to allow cd34 + cells detachment , the beads were subjected to shearing forces by repeated flushing through a pasteur pipette . further details about the negative / positive double selection procedure used have been published previously ( bagnara et al ., 1991 ). the recovered cells were morphologically unidentifiable blast elements on may - grunwald - giemsa staining , slightly contaminated by promyelocytes . flow cytometry analysis indicated that the percentage of cd34 + cells in the selected cell preparations varied between a minimum of 30 % ( when the starting material was bone marrow ) and a maximum of 50 % ( when the starting material was peripheral blood ). contamination by cd4 +, cd2 +, cd16 + or cd19 + cells was constantly below 1 %. the colony assay for erythroid burst - forming units and for multipotent colony - forming units ( cfu - gemm ) was performed according to iscove et al ., 1974 . cord blood , bone marrow or peripheral blood cd34 + cells were plated in 24 - well cell culture clusters ( costar ), at a density of 2 . 5 × 10 3 cells / well , in a medium containing imdm , 30 % fcs , 2 × 10 - 4 m hemin , 5 × 10 - 5 β - mercaptoethanol and 0 . 9 % methylcellulose . the cells were stimulated with the following growth factors alone or in combination : epo 2 ng / ml , il - 3 2 ng / ml , gh - csf 50 ng / ml , scf 20 ng / ml , pro - hgf 2 , 10 or 40 ng / ml . colonies scored positive only when dark - red and containing more than four aggregates . the assay for the 14 - day granulo - monocyte colony - forming units ( cfu - gm ) was performed as previously described ( iscove et al ., 1971 ). cord blood , bone marrow or peripheral blood cd34 + cells were plated in 24 - well cell culture clusters ( costar ), at a density of 2 . 5 × 10 3 cells / well , in a medium containing imdm , 20 % fcs , 0 . 3 % noble agar ( difco ) and the following growth factors alone or in combination : il - 3 2 ng / ml , gm - csf 50 ng / ml , scf 20 ng / ml , pro - hgf 2 , 10 or 40 ng / ml . for the megakaryocyte colony - forming unit ( cfu - meg ) assay , plasma clot assay was performed according to vainchenker et al ., 1979 . cord blood , bone marrow or peripheral blood cd34 + cells were plated in 24 - well cell culture clusters ( costar ), at a density of 2 . 5 × 10 3 cells / well , in a medium containing imdm , 20 mg / ml l - asparagine ( sigma ), 3 . 4 mg / ml cacl 2 , 10 % bovine plasma citrated ( gibco ), 1 % detoxified bovine serum albumin ( bsa , fraction v chon ) ( sigma ), 10 % of heat - inactivated human ab serum and the following growth factors alone or in combination : il - 3 2 ng / ml , gm - csf 50 ng / ml , scf 20 ng / ml , pro - hgf 2 , 10 or 40 ng / ml . after 12 days of incubation , the plasma clot was fixed in situ with methanol - acetone 1 : 3 . for 20 minutes , washed with pbs and air dried . fixed plates were stored at - 20 ° c . until immunofluorescence staining was performed ; cfu - meg colonies were scored as aggregates of 3 - 100 cells intensively fluorescent to monoclonal antibody cd41 ( immunotech ) directed against the iib / iiia glycoprotein complex . binding was shown by fluorescein - conjugated goat anti - mouse ig ( becton dickinson ). the results are schematized in fig1 and 2 , and they show that , in the presence of standard concentrations of erythropoietin ( 2 ng / ml ), hgf dramatically increased the number of colonies derived from the bfu - e precursors ( fig1 ). hgf also stimulated the growth of colonies derived from multipotent cfu - gemm progenitors . the number of colonies was comparable to that obtained by combining known hemopoietic factors such as gm - csf and interleukin - 3 ( gasson , 1991 ; miyajima et al ., 1993 ). it should be noted , however , that the hgf effect was restricted to the stimulation of cfu - gemm and bfu - e . neither granulo - monocytic nor megakaryocytic colonies were ever observed in response to hgf . the response to hgf was dose - dependent and could be observed at concentrations of hgf as low as 5 pm both in erythroid and multipotent colonies ( fig2 ). the hgf action was also studied on cd34 + foetal hematopoietic progenitors , enriched from human umbilical cords blood . it is known that this population contains a percentage of primitive stem cells higher than the population purified from adult bone marrow or peripheral blood ( broxmeyer et al ., 1992 ; lu et al ., 1993 ). as observed in the case of adult hematopoietic progenitors , hgf stimulated both bfu - e and cfu - gemm derived colonies . in the presence of both hgf and stem cell factor ( scf ), a significant increase in the number of cfu - gemm - derived colonies was observed ( fig3 ). in this case , fewer erythroid colonies could be seen compared to those developed in the cultures stimulated by hgf alone . this suggests that the combination of hgf and scf preferentially affects proliferation of multipotent progenitors . the erythroid colonies grown in the presence of both growth factors were extremely large and showed a high hemoglobin content . the size of cfu - gemm derived colonies grown in these conditions was also increased and , within each colony , the erythroid lineage was predominant . in these assays hgf did not synergize with gm - csf and interleukin - 3 , either tested individually or in combination . expression of the hgf receptor in a subpopulation of adult hematopoietic progenitors ( cd34 +). the presence of hgf receptor at the surface of hematopietic progenitors was studied by flow cytometry analysis of bone marrow and peripheral blood mononuclear cells . monoclonal antibodies directed against extracellular epitopes of the hgf receptor β chain were used . a small but clearly identifiable subpopulation of bone marrow cells stained positive for the hgf receptor ( table ). ______________________________________ phenotype positive cells % ______________________________________a . unfractionated hgf - r + 0 . 6 ± 0 . 1 bone marrow hgf - r +/ cd34 + 0 . 3 ± 0 . 05 hgf - r +/ cd34 - 0 . 3 ± 0 . 1 hgf - r +/ scf - r + 0 . 2 ± 0 . 1 hgf - r +/ scf - r - 0 . 4 ± 0 . 1 b . cfu - gemm - derived hgf - r + 15 . 3 ± 1 . 5 colonies c . bfu - e - derived hgf - r + 9 . 7 ± 1 . 2 colonies______________________________________ about half of the cells expressing the hgf receptor also co - expressed the cd34 marker and could thus be identified as hematopoietic - progenitors . as described above , hgf synergized with the scf in stimulating the growth and differentiation of cfu - gemm derived colonies . in line with this observation , a subpopulation of cells co - expressing the hgf and the scf receptors was identified using a monoclonal antibody against extracellular epitopes of the scf receptor . similar results were obtained by flow cytometry analysis of cd34 + progenitors circulating in the peripheral blood . flow cytometry analysis with anti - hgf - receptor antibodies was also performed on cells harvested from the colonies developed in vitro in response to hgf . the table shows that hgf - receptor positive cells were present . expression of hgf and its receptor during the embryonal development of hematopoietic cells . the expression of the hgf receptor was studied in embryonal hematopoietic cells by in situ hybridization of histological sections of mouse embryos . using an antisense met probe , the hgf receptor mrna could be clearly detected in megaloblastic cells located within the cavity of the developing heart and aorta from 10 - 10 . 5 days post coitum . specific mrna could be detected in the hepato / biliary primordium , which at this stage contains hemopoietic precursors . in this developing organ erythroid islands showed a higher levels of hgf receptor mrna , compared with the level of expression observed in the surrounding hepatocytes . from 11 days post coitum the hematopoietic embryonal liver also expressed hgf mrna . in order to prove the mobilization of the bone marrow hemopoietic precursors at the peripheral blood , the murine model has been used . balb / c mice were treated subcutaneously for 4 days with hgf at varied concentrations or with control preparations . at the end of the treatment , mice were killed , the circulating leukocytes were counted and hemopoietic colonies from peripheral blood were cultured . in hgf - treated mice , contrary to the untreated controls , an about 60 % increase in circulating leukocytes was observed as well as an increase in the colonies obtainable from peripheral blood . this phenomenon has an intensity comparable with that of g - csf , already described and used to mobilize bone marrow hematopoietic precursors ( janssen , w . e ., et al ., prog . clin . biol . res . 389 : 429 - 39 ). using in the colony formation assay on cd34 + cells of example 3 equimolecular amounts of activated hgf , obtained according to example 1 , instead of pro - hgf , statistically similar results have been obtained in the colonies count as shown in the enclosed fig4 . 1 . bagnara , g . p ., g . zauli , l . vitale , p . rosito , v . vecchi , g . paolucci , g . c . avanzi , u . ramenghi , f . timeus , and v . gabutti , 1991 . in vitro growth and regulation of bone marrow enriched cd34 + hematopoietic progenitors in diamond - blackfan anemia . blood . 78 ; 2203 - 2210 . 2 . boccaccio , c ., g . gaudino , g . gambarotta , f . galimi , and p . m . comoglio . 1994 . hepatocyte growth factor receptor expression is inducible and is part of the delayed - early response to hgf . j . biol . chem . in press . 3 . bottaro , d . p ., j . s . rubin , d . l . faletto , a . m . l . chan , t . e . kmiecick , g . f . vande woude , and s . a . aaronson . 1991 . identification of the hepatocyte growth factor receptor as the c - met proto - oncogene . science . 251 : 802 - 804 . 4 . broxmeyer , h . e ., hangoc , g ., cooper , s ., riberio , c ., greaves , v ., yoder , m ., wagner , j ., vadhan - raj , s ., benninger , l ., rubinstein , p ., and randolph brown e . 1992 . growth characteristics and expansion of human umbilical cord blood and estimation of its potential for transplantation in adults . proc . natl . sci . ( usa ) 89 : 4109 - 4113 . 5 . broxmeyer , e . h ., r . maze , k . miyazawa , c . carow , p . c . hendrie , s . cooper , g . hangoc , s . vadham - raj , and l . lu . 1992 . the c - kit receptor ands its ligand , steel , as regulators of hemopoiesis . cancer cells . 3 : 480 - 487 . 6 . bussolino , f ., m . f . di renzo , m . ziche , e . bocchietto , m . oliviero , l . naldini , g . gaudino , l . tamagnone , a . coffer , and p . m . comoglio . 1992 . hepatocyte growth factor is a potent angiogenic factor which stimulates endothelial cell motility and growth . j . cell . biol . 119 : 629 - 641 . 7 . clark , s . c ., and r . kamen . 1987 . the human hematopoietic colony - stimulating factors . science . 236 : 1229 - 1237 . 8 . di renzo , m . f ., r . p . narsimhan , m . olivero , s . bretti , s . giordano , e . medico , p . gaglia , p . zara , and p . m . comoglio . 1991 . expression of the met / hgf receptor in normal and neoplastic human tissues . oncogene . 6 : 1997 - 2003 . 9 . galimi , f ., brizzi , m . f ., comoglio , p . m ., 1993 . the hepatocyte growth factor and its receptor . stem cells ii suppl 2 , 22 - 30 . 10 . gasson , j . 1991 . molecular physiology of granulocyte - macrophage colony - stimulating factor . blood . 77 : 1131 - 1145 . 11 . gherardi , e ., j . gray , m . stoker , m . perryman , and a . furlong . 1989 . purification of scatter factor , a fibroblast basic protein that modulates epithelial interactions and movement . proc . natl . acad . sci . usa . 86 : 5844 - 5848 . 12 . giordano , s ., c . ponzetto , m . f . di renzo , c . s ., cooper , and p . m . comoglio . 1989a . tyrosine kinase receptor indistinguishable from the c - met protein . nature . 339 : 155 - 156 . 13 . giordano , s ., m . f . di renzo , r . narshimhan , c . s . cooper , c . rosa , and p . m . comoglio . 1989b . biosynthesis of the protein encoded by the c - met proto - oncogene . oncogene . 4 : 1383 - 1388 . 14 . giordano , s ., z . zhen , e . medico , g . gaudino , f . galimi , and p : m : comoglio . 1993 . transfer of the motogenic and invasive response to scatter factor / hepatocyte growth factor by transfection of the human c - met protooncogene . prac . natl . acad . sci . usa . 90 : 649 - 653 . 15 . grant , d . s ., h . k . kleinman , i . d . goldberg , m . bhargava , b . j . nickoloff , j . l . kinsella , p . j . polverini , and e . m . rosen . 1993 . scatter factor induces blood vessel formation in vivo . proc . natl . acad . sci . usa . 90 : 1937 - 1941 . 16 . halaban , r ., j . f . rubin , y . fusanaka , m . cobb , t . boulton , d . faletto , e . rosen , a . chan , k . yoko , w . white , c . cook , and g . moellmann . 1992 . met and hepatocyte growth factor / scatter factor signal transduction in normal melanocytes and melanoma cells . oncogene . 7 : 2195 - 2206 . 17 . iscove , n . n ., s . senn , j . e till , and e . a . mcculloch . 1971 . colony formation by normal and leukemic human marrow cells in culture : effect of conditioned medium from human leukocytes . blood . 37 : 1 - 5 . 18 . iscove , n . n ., f . sieber , and h . winteralter . 1974 . erythroid colony formation in cultures of mouse and human bone maroow : analysis of the requirement for erythropoietin by gel filtration and affinity chromatography on agarose - concanavalin a . j . cell . physiol . 83 : 309 - 320 . 19 . kan , m ., g . h . zhang , r . zarnegar , g . michalopoulos , y . myoken , w . l . mckeehan , and j . l . stevens . 1991 . hepatocyte growth factor / hepatopoietin a stimulates the growth of rad kidney proximal tubule epithelial cells ( rpte ), rat nonparenchymal liver cells , human melanoma cells , mouse keratinocytes and stimulates anchorage - independent growth of sv40 - transfomed rpte . biochem . biophys . res . commun . 174 : 331 - 331 . 20 . kmiecik , t . e ., i . r . kelleer , e . rosen , and g . f . vande woude . 1992 . hepatocyte growth factor is a synergistic factor for the growth of hematopoietic progenitor cells . blood . 16 : 2454 - 2457 . 21 . koury , m . j ., and m . c . bondurant . 1990 . erythropoietin retards dna breakdown and prevents programmed death in erythroid progenitor cells . science . 248 : 378 - 381 . 22 . lu , l ., m . xiao , r . n . shen , s . grisby , and h . e . broxmeyer . 1993 . enrichment , characterization and responsiveness of single primitive cd34 + human umbilical cord blood hematopoietic progenitors with high proliferative and replating potential . blood . 81 : 41 - 48 . 23 . matsumoto , k ., hashimoto , k . yoshikaua , and t . nakamura . 1991 . marked stimulation of growth and motility of human keratinocytes by hepatocyte growth factor . exp . cell . res . 196 : 114 - 120 . 24 . metcalf , d . 1984 . the hemopoietic colony stimulating factors . elsevier , amsterdam . 25 . metcalf , d . 1987 . the molecular control of cell division , differentiation , commitment and maturation in hemopoietic cells . nature . 339 : 27 - 30 . 26 . michalopoulos , g . k . 1990 . liver regeneration : molecular mechanisms of growth control . faseb j . 4 : 176 - 187 . 27 . miyajima , a ., a . l . mui , t . ogorochi , and k . sakamaki . 1993 . receptors for granulocyte - macrophage colony - stimulating factor , interleukin - 3 and interleukin - 5 . blood . 82 : 1960 - 1974 . 28 . miyazawa , k ., h . tsubouchi , d . naka , k . takahashi , h . okigaki , n . arakaki , h . nakayama , s . hirono , o . sakiyama , k . takahashi , e . godha , y . daikuhara , and n . kitamara . 1989 . molecular cloning and sequence analysis of cdna for human hepatocyte growth factor . biochem . biophys . res . commun . 163 : 967 - 973 . 29 . montesano , r ., k . matsumoto , t . nakamura and l . orci . 1991 . identification of a fibroblast - derived epithelial morphogen as hepatocyte growth factor . cell . 67 : 901 - 908 . 30 . nakamura , t ., t . nishizawa , m . hagiya , t . seki , m . shimonishi , a . sugimura , k . tashiro , and s . shimizu . 1989 . molecular cloning and expression of human hepatocyte growth factor . nature . 342 : 440 - 443 . 31 . naldini , l ., m . weidner , e . vigna , g . gaudino , a . bardelli , c . ponzetto , r . narshimhan , g . hartmann , r . zarnegar , g . michalopoulos , w . birchmeier , and p . m . comoglio . 1991a . scatter factor and hepatocyte growth factor are indistinguishable ligands for the met receptor . embo j . 10 : 2867 - 2878 . 32 . naldini , l ., e . vigna , r . p . narshiman , g . gaudino , r . zarnegar , g . michalopoulos , and p . m . comoglio . 1991b . hepatocyte growth factor ( hgf ) stimulates the tyrosine kinase activity of the receptor encoded by the proto - oncogene c - met . oncogene . 6 : 501 - 504 . 33 . park , m ., m . dean , k . kaul , m . j . braun , m . a . gonda , and g . f . vande woude . 1987 . sequence of met protooncogene cdna has features characteristic of the tyrosine kinase family of growth - factor receptors . proc . natl . acad . sci . usa . 84 : 6379 - 6383 . 34 . pepper , m . s ., k . matsumoto , t . nakamura , l . orci , and r . montesano . 1992 . hepatocyte growth factor increases urokinase - type plasminogen activator ( μ - pa ) and μ - pa receptor expression in madin - darby canine kidney epithelial cells . j . biol . chem . 267 : 20493 - 20496 . 35 . prat , m ., r . p . narsimhan , t . crepaldi , m . r . nicotra , p . g . natali , and p . m . comoglio . 1991a . the receptor encoded by the human c - met oncogene is expressed in hepatocytes , epithelial cells and solid tumors . int . j . cancer . 49 : 323 - 328 . 36 . rubin , j . s ., a . m . l . chan , d . p . bottaro , w . h . burgess , w . g . taylor , a . c . cech , d . w . hirschfield , j . wong , t . hiki , p . w . finch , and s . a . aaronson . 1991 . a broad - spectrum human lung fibroblast - derived mitogen is a variant of hepatocyte growth factor . proc . natl . acad . sci . usa . 88 : 415 - 419 . 37 . sonnenberg e ., d . meyer , k . m . weidner , and c . birchmeier . 1993 . scatter factor / hepatocyte growth factor and its receptor , the c - met tyrosine kinase , can mediate a signal exchange beyween mesenchyme and epithelia during mouse development . j . cell . biol . 123 : 223 - 235 . 38 . sporn , m . b ., and a . b . roberts . 1992 . transforming growth factor - β : recent progress and new challenges . j . cell . biol . 119 : 1017 - 1021 . 39 . stern , c . d ., g . w . ireland , s . e . herrick , e . gherardi , j . gray , m . perryman , and m . stoker . 1990 . epithelial scatter factor , and m . stoker . 1990 . epithelial scatter factor , and m . stoker . 1990 . epithelial scatter factor and development of the chick embryonic axis . 110 : 1271 - 1284 . 40 . stoker , m ., e . gherardi , m . perryman , and j . gray . 1987 . scatter factor is a fibroblast - derived modulator of epithelial cell mobility . nature . 327 : 239 - 242 . 41 . vainchenker , w ., j . bouquet , j . guichard , and j . breton - gorius . 1979 . megakaryocyte colony formation from human bone marrow precursors . blood 59 : 940 - 945 . 42 . weidner , k . m ., j . behrens , j . vandekerckove , and w . birchmeier . 1990 . scatter factor : molecular characteristics and effect on the invasiveness of epithelial cells . j . cell . biol . 11 : 2097 - 2108 . 43 . weidner , k . m ., n . arakaki , j . vandekerchove , s . weingart , g . hartmann , h . rieder , c . fonatsch , h . tsubouchi , t . hishida , y . daikuhara , and w . birchmeier . 1991 . evidence for the identity of human scatter factor and hepatocyte growth factor . proc . natl . acad . sci . usa . 88 : 7001 - 7005 .
hepatocyte growth factor stimulates proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic cells , most preferably burst - forming unit - erythroid cells . the hepatocyte growth factor may be obtained from cells transformed with human gene sequences coding therefor . pharmaceutical compositions useful to induce the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic cells may contain hepatocyte growth factor as an active principle in admixture with a suitable carrier . the pharmaceutical compositions may additionally contain stem cell factor as an active principle .