title: Expression of immunoreactive human hepatocyte growth factor in human esophageal squamous cell carcinomas.
abstract: Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a potent mitogen for epithelial cells that promotes cell motility and invasiveness. In this study, we report that the human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) shows a significant elevation of HGF concentration (600 +/- 416 ng/100 mg protein), compared to normal mucosa (80 +/- 183 ng/100 mg protein) (P < 0.01). An association could be established between levels of HGF and decreasing differentiation of 37 SCCs. The 2-year crude survival rates were 51.1% and 68.4% at high and low HGF concentrations, respectively. The results indicate that HGF is significantly increased in human esophageal SCCs, especially of poorly differentiated type. HGF might thus be useful as a biological biomarker for characterization of human esophageal SCCs.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor