title: c-Met expression as an indicator of survival outcome in patients with oral tongue carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) can promote proliferation, invasion, and angiogenesis in various tumor cells. However, the prognosis according to expression of HGF/c-Met has not been reported in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue (SCCOT).
  
  
  METHODS
  Tumors from 61 patients with SCCOT were evaluated for the expression of HGF and c-Met by immunohistochemistry. For Western blot, we used fresh normal and cancer tissues from 3 patients with SCCOT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The positive rates of HGF and c-Met immunostaining in SCCOT were 57.3% and 54.1%, respectively. The c-Met staining was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis (p = .005), tumor classification (p = .004), and recurrence (p = .018). Survival was significantly affected in patients with positive c-Met expression (p = .003). HGF and c-Met were strongly expressed in cancer tissues on Western blot.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The c-Met expression may play an important role in the progression and the survival outcome of patients with SCCOT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Chul-Ho
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yoon Woo
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Jae Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Jae Wook
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jin Seok
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Seung Jae
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Baek
authors.forename: Hye Sook
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Eun Chang
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met / Q000378:metabolism*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met