title: Plasma hepatocyte growth factor elevation may be associated with early metastatic disease in primary lung cancer patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), a ligand of the c-met proto-oncogene, exhibits activating effects on human lung cancer both in vitro and in vivo. However, few studies have reported the correlations between concentration changes of blood HGF and postsurgical prognosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated whether surgery-related blood HGF elevation has prognostic significance in patients with surgically resected non-small cell lung cancer. We examined blood HGF concentration, c-met expression, and postoperative prognosis of 25 cases of primary resected, non-small cell lung cancer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We divided the patients into 2 groups according to receiver operating characteristics curve analysis using 7.2 ng/mL as the cut-off value of blood HGF concentration. Survival curve analysis revealed that patients with a high level of HGF (over the cutoff value) exhibited a poor prognosis of metastatic disease, compared to those in the low-level group after curative surgery (log rank test, P = 0.020; Wilcoxon test, P = 0.016).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elevation of HGF in plasma may be an important prognostic factor for early metastatic disease in patients with primary lung cancer. Moreover, inhibition of HGF elevation may have therapeutic effects on early distant metastasis of lung cancer.
authors.affiliation: Division of Thoracic Surgery, Hokushin General Hospital, Nishi Nakano, Nagano, Japan. hosoda@tkh.meguro.tokyo.jp
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hosoda
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Izumi
authors.forename: Yoshikazu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tukada
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Takagiwa
authors.forename: Tomoshige
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chiaki
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yano
authors.forename: Hirokuni
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arai
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D011379:Prognosis; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met / Q000097:blood; D012372:ROC Curve; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met