c-Met expression as an indicator of survival outcome in patients with oral tongue carcinoma.
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.
Kim
Chul-Ho
CH
Department of Otolaryngology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
Koh
Yoon Woo
YW
Han
Jae Ho
JH
Kim
Jae Wook
JW
Lee
Jin Seok
JS
Baek
Seung Jae
SJ
Hwang
Hye Sook
HS
Choi
Eun Chang
EC
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
D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met