title: Met and hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor signal transduction in normal melanocytes and melanoma cells.
abstract: The proto-oncogene c-MET encodes a transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptor for hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF). HGF/SF stimulates the proliferation and motility of various cell types. Because HGF/SF is also a melanocyte mitogen, we investigated the biological role of HGF/SF, including c-Met expression, activation and signal transduction, in normal and malignant human melanocytes. We show that HGF/SF is mitogenic in the presence of synergistic factors, such as basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and mast cell growth factor (MGF) and that, by itself, it stimulates the motility of normal human melanocytes. The ligand also maintained high levels of tyrosinase activity and melanin content in theses cells. Signal transduction by HGF/SF included phosphorylation of tyrosyl residues on c-Met, a cascade of tyrosine phosphorylations on several other proteins and activation of microtubule-associated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase. Met expression and activity are normal in human melanomas, and constitutive activity of HGF/SF in retrovirally infected autonomously proliferative mouse melanocytes is insufficient to confer the malignant phenotype. Our findings suggest that activation of Met in response to HGF/SF may contribute to malignant progression synergistically with the aberrant expression of bFGF in malignant melanocytes and that, in addition, the peptide may promote dispersion of factor-dependent melanocytes from early stages of primary melanomas to ectopic sites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Halaban
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Funasaka
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cobb
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Boulton
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Faletto
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoko
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: White
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003994:Bucladesine / Q000494:pharmacology; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D008545:Melanoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D051379:Mice; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000032:analysis; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects*; D014443:Tyrosine / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D014443:Tyrosine; D003994:Bucladesine; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor; D004247:DNA; D011494:Protein Kinases; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases