Activation of the HGF-MET signaling increases invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis in cancer cells. Therefore, HGF-MET signaling is regarded as an oncogenic signaling pathway, and intensive therapeutic approaches focusing on this signaling pathway are ongoing in the field of cancer treatment. We previously reported that the concentration of serum HGF was strongly related with the treatment outcome of EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients with adenocarcinoma of the lung (Kasahara K. et al, Clin Cancer Res. 2010). Meanwhile, recent study has clearly demonstrated that HGF expression was regulated by short poly A sequence in its promoter region in breast cancer cells (Ma J. et al, J Clin Invest. 2009). In this study, we evaluated the poly A sequence in HGF promoter region and expression levels of HGF in 51 cancer cell lines. The five cell lines exhibited a short poly A sequence (16A-25A) in HGF promoter compared with wild-type (30A). Two of five cell lines overexpressed HGF at mRNA and protein expression levels determined by quantitative RT-PCR and ELISA. On the other hand, there were no HGF-overexpressing cell lines among 46 cell lines with wild-type poly A sequence. Of note, we have also detected the short poly A sequence in cancer cells in patients with lung cancer. Evaluation of short poly A, HGF expression and treatment outcomes of EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors is under way.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1095. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-1095

©2011 American Association for Cancer Research
2011