title: Increased concentration of hepatocyte growth factor in the sera of patients with gastrointestinal cancer.
abstract: We measured the concentration of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) in the sera of 138 patients with gastrointestinal cancer. The mean value and positive rate for this protein (assuming 0.4 ng/ml as the cut-off value) were 0.29 ng/ml (11.4%) in healthy donors (n=44), 0.90 ng/ml(70.8%) in esophageal cancer (n=24), 0.39 ng/ml (33.3%) in gastric cancer (n=39), and 0.40 ng/ml (42.7%) in colorectal cancer (n=75). Thus, the mean values of the esophageal and colorectal cancer group were significantly higher than that of healthy donors. There was a tendency for elevated mean value of serum HGF in the sera of patients with distant metastases, compared to those with no such evidence, i.e., 1.36:0.77 ng/ml in esophageal cancer, 0.69:0.30 ng/ml in gastric cancer, and 0.66:0.37 ng/ml in colorectal cancer. This difference was statistically significant in gastric and colorectal cancer. These findings suggest that serum HGF is useful as a tumor marker with a close correlation to the metastatic state of gastrointestinal cancer.
authors: TOKYO METROPOLITAN KOMAGOME HOSP,DEPT SURG,BUNKYO KU,TOKYO 113,JAPAN. NAGOYA UNIV,SCH MED,DEPT SURG 2,SHOWA KU,NAGOYA,AICHI 466,JAPAN. INST IMMUNOL,BUNKYO KU,TOKYO 112,JAPAN.
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Narita
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Mitsuoka
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Kimura
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Toi
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Nakashio
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Sekiguchi
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Iwanari
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Kannagi