The expression of c-met stimulated by high glucose in human renal tubular epithelial cells and the role of HGF/c-met system in diabetic nephropathy were examined. The proximal tubular epithelial cells were cultured in vitro under different conditions. MTT was used for the detection of cellular proliferation and RT-PCR was employed for measurement of c-met mRNA level. Our results showed that under different conditions, there were no significant differences in the proliferation of proximal tubular epithelial cells 12 h and 24 h after the culuture (P＞0.05). The proliferation of proximal tubular epithelial cells showed a significant change 96 h after the culture and the cellular proliferation induced by hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) was very active (P＜0.05). Moreover, no significant difference in the expression of c-met mRNA was found 12 h after the culture under different conditions (P＞0.05), while 24 and 96 h after the culture, a persistent and significantly higher expression of c-met mRNA was found in HGF-induced proliferation. It is concluded that addition of exogenous HGF could inhibit the apoptosis induced by high-level glucose, promote the proliferation of proximal tubular epithelial cells, and induce the expression of c-met. Our study suggests that local up-regulation of HGF/c-met system plays an important role in the repair of renal damage in diabetic nephropathy.