Exp Mol Med.  2005 Jun;37(3):213-219.

Presence of autocrine hepatocyte growth factor-Met signaling and its role in proliferation and migration of SNU-484 gastric cancer cell line

• Park M
• Park H
• Kim WH
• Cho H
• Lee JH

Abstract

Autocrine stimulation via coexpression of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptor (Met) has been reported in many human sarcomas, but few in carcinomas. In this report, we found that one gastric cancer cell line, SNU-484, among 11 gastric cell lines tested has an autocrine HGF- Met stimulation. RT-PCR, ELISA and scattering assay using MDCK cells revealed that SNU-484 cells secreted a significant amount of active HGF (about 1.25 +/- 0.41 ng/24 h/106 cells) into conditioned medium. Resultantly, Met in this cell line was constitutively phosphorylated. Neutralizing antibodies against HGF reduced the tyrosine phosphorylation of Met, resulting in the inhibition of cell proliferation and migration (P <0.005). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on autocrine HGF-Met signaling in a gastric cancer cell line. Our observations with SNU-484 cells suggest that HGF is involved in the development and/or progression of some gastric carcinoma through an autocrine mechanism.

Keyword

autocrine; gastric cancer; hepatocyte growth factor; Met; migration; proliferation

MeSH Terms

Animals
Antibodies, Neoplasm/immunology
*Autocrine Communication
*Cell Movement
Cell Proliferation
Culture Media, Conditioned/pharmacology
Dogs
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Hepatocyte Growth Factor/immunology/*pharmacology
Neutralization Tests
Phosphorylation
Proto-Oncogene Protein c-met/genetics/*metabolism
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
Stomach Neoplasms/*immunology/metabolism/pathology
Tumor Cells, Cultured
Tyrosine/metabolism