title: Prognostic and predictive value of MET deregulation in non-small cell lung cancer.
abstract: Recent progress in cancer biology has led to the discovery of increasing number of oncogene alterations that have dramatically changed the paradigm of lung cancer treatment. MET is a tyrosine kinase receptor for the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) that is deregulated in several malignancies, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Abnormal MET-HGF signaling pathway activation can occur via different mechanisms, including HGF and/or MET overexpression, MET gene amplification, mutations or rearrangements. MET protein overexpression and increased MET gene number have been identified as poor prognostic factors in several series of surgically resected NSCLC making this receptor an attractive target for cancer treatment. Several clinical trials have recently evaluated the activity of a variety of anti-MET strategies in NSCLC patients with or without molecular selection with a variable degree of success, underscoring the need of establishing the best predictive biomarker for the identification of responding patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Department of Medical Oncology, Istituto Clinico Humanitas IRCCS, Rozzano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Finocchiaro
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Department of Medical Oncology, Istituto Clinico Humanitas IRCCS, Rozzano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Toschi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Department of Medical Oncology, Istituto Clinico Humanitas IRCCS, Rozzano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Letizia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gianoncelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Department of Medical Oncology, Istituto Clinico Humanitas IRCCS, Rozzano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baretti
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Department of Medical Oncology, Istituto Clinico Humanitas IRCCS, Rozzano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Armando
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santoro
keywords: MET gene copy number (GCN); MET protein expression; non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); predictive; prognostic