title: Clinical significance of c-met oncogene alterations in human colorectal cancer.
abstract: Abnormalities of the c-met oncogene have been studied in cancers of many organs including thyroid, lung, pancreas, and stomach. However, little is known about the clinical significance of c-met oncogene abnormalities in colorectal cancer. We investigated the amplification and overexpression of the c-met gene in surgically resected samples from 43 patients with colorectal cancer using Southern blot analysis and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Four of 33 (12%) samples of colorectal cancer showed amplification of the c-met gene. Twelve of 43 (30%) exhibited overexpression of the c-met gene. The patients with c-met overexpression showed greater tumor size, compared to those without c-met overexpression (p < 0.05). However, there were no differences in clinical stage, histological differentiation, tumor markers, or overall survival between two groups. The findings of the present study suggest that overexpression of c-met gene plays an important role in growth of colorectal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Internal Medicine, Tottori University School of Medicine, Yonago, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Umeki
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shiota
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawasaki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met / Q000032:analysis*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met