title: c-Met: A potential therapeutic target for hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: The approval of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) targeted agent sorafenib as the first effective drug for the systemic treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a milestone in the treatment of this disease. A better understanding of HCC pathogenesis will lead to development of novel targeted treatments. As a typical member of the RTK family, c-Met represents an intriguing target for cancer therapy. The c-Met signaling pathway has been shown to be deregulated and to correlate with poor prognosis in a number of major human cancers. This review discusses the possibility of c-Met as a target in HCC treatment from the following respects: i) c-Met expression and activation profile in HCC, ii) relationship between c-Met and clinicopathologic state and prognosis of HCC, iii) role of c-Met signaling activity in HCC genesis and progression, and iv) strategy of c-Met pathway targeting therapy in HCC treatment.
authors.affiliation: Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery Division, Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Inagaki
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: X J
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tang