The Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) and its structural relative erbB2 are frequently over-expressed in ovarian cancers and both are strongly associated with poor patient survival. To investigate the relative roles of these receptors in the regulation of cell growth and migration, a panel of ovarian carcinoma cell lines were stimulated with TGFα and NRG1β. TGFα had a much greater influence on cell migration than NRG1β where growth effects were equivalent. The extent of TGFα-stimulated migration on collagen in these assays could be associated with erbB2 expression levels. In addition, TGFα was found to stimulate activation of the ERK, PI3 kinase and PLCγ pathways. Direct blockade of the TGFα-interacting receptor EGFR inhibited both cell growth and migration, as well as downstream signaling induced by the growth factor. Specific blockade of the downstream proteins MEK and PI3 kinase significantly affected TGFα-induced mitogenesis in the cell lines tested but had less impact upon migration. Conversely, inhibition of the PLCγ pathway had little effect on cell growth but significantly decreased TGFα-driven migration. These results corroborate the likely importance of migration as well as growth in erbB receptor over-expressing ovarian cancers and directly implicate the roles of ERK and PI3 kinase in growth control, and PLCγ in the regulation of migration in this disease.