title: Deletion type hepatocyte growth factor has different effects on growth and c-met expression in 10 different human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines.
abstract: We examined expression of c-met protein, and the mitogenic and morphologic effects of deletion type hepatocyte growth factor (dHGF) by using 10 human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines having different morphologic and biologic features. c-met protein was detected at varying levels in all cells, regardless of the histological grades. Among the 7 lines expressing c-met at high levels, mitogenic effects of dHGF were stimulative for 2 lines; suppressive for 3 lines; and not distinguishable for the other 2 lines. Furthermore, mitogenic effects of dHGF were different in two clonally related cell lines, having different morphologic and biologic features, even though expression of c-met protein was comparable. dHGF induced scattering of cells and morphologic changes in two lines with suppressing and unaffected growth. In the 3 lines expressing c-met at relatively low levels, no remarkable mitogenic or morphogenic effects were detected. These results suggest that the expression levels of c-met protein were not related to the differentiation levels of HCC cells, and dHGF may cause different biological effects on the cells with almost identical c-met protein expression.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iemura
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yano
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ogasawara
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hisaka
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Utsunomiya
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kojiro