Prognostic impact of tumor MET expression among patients with stage IV gastric cancer: a Danish cohort study.
We aimed to investigate the prevalence and prognostic impact of tumor mesenchymal epithelial transition factor (MET) expression in stage IV gastric cancers in a real-world clinical setting because existing evidence is sparse.



The study included archived cancer specimens from 103 stage IV gastric cancer patients (2003-2010). We analyzed MET-protein expression by immunohistochemistry (MET-positive if ≥25% of tumor cells showed MET expression). We calculated overall survival using the Kaplan-Meier method and hazard ratios comparing mortality among MET-positive and MET-negative patients using Cox regression adjusted for age, gender, and comorbidity.



We found that 62.1% (95% confidence interval, 52.0-71.5) of patients had MET-positive tumors. Median survival was lower among patients with MET-positive tumors (3.5 months) than among patients with MET-negative tumors (9.6 months), corresponding to an adjusted hazard ratio of 2.2 (95% confidence interval, 1.3-3.7).



Tumor MET expression is prevalent and has substantial prognostic impact in stage IV gastric cancer patients.
Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus N, Denmark. Electronic address: re@clin.au.dk.
Rune
R
Erichsen
Center for Observational Research, Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA.
Michael A
MA
Kelsh
Medical Sciences, Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA.
Kelly S
KS
Oliner
Dako Denmark A/S, Glostrup, Denmark.
Karsten B
KB
Nielsen
Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus N, Denmark.
Trine
T
Frøslev
Department of Pathology, Slagelse Hospital, Slagelse, Denmark.
Anne-Vibeke
AV
Lænkholm
Institute of Pathology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
Mogens
M
Vyberg
Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus N, Denmark; Center for Observational Research, Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA.
John
J
Acquavella
Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus N, Denmark.
Henrik Toft
HT
Sørensen
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003718:Denmark; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met / Q000378:metabolism*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D016019:Survival Analysis
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; C491743:MET protein, human; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met
Cohort studies; Mortality; Prevalence; Proto-oncogene proteins c-met; Stomach neoplasia