c-Met expression in primary tumors and their corresponding distant metastases

• c-Met is a receptor tyrosine kinase that has beenimplicated in the pathogenesis and growth of a wide variety ofhuman malignancies, including CRC, but its role in metastasisis largely unknown. We compared c-Met expression in primaryhuman colorectal carcinomas and distant metastases from thesame patients. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissuesamples from 69 colorectal cancer patients were obtained. Theprotein expression of c-Met was evaluated immunohistochemicallyusing a commercial antibody. The difference inexpression between primary tumors and their correspondingdistant metastases was analyzed using the Wilcoxon signedranktest. c-Met expression was statistically significantlylower in the distant metastases compared to their correspondingprimary tumors (p<0.001), whereas no difference was foundbetween lymph node metastases and their correspondingprimary tumors (p=0.957). The degree of c-Met expressionwas not related to clinicopathological characteristics such astumor grade and Dukes' stage at the time of primary tumordiagnosis, or to the location of the distant metastases. Wedemonstrated that c-Met expression is often reduced in distantmetastases compared to their corresponding primary colorectaltumors. Additional studies of c-Met activation and signaltransduction will increase our knowledge about the role ofc-Met in colorectal cancer metastasis.

Keyword

c-Met

colorectal cancer

metastasis

MEDICINE

MEDICIN

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)