HGF/c-Met Axis: The Advanced Development in Digestive System Cancer

Zhiwei Shao; Haoqi Pan; Sheng Tu; Jingying Zhang; Sheng Yan; Anwen Shao

doi:10.3389/fcell.2020.00801

HGF/c-Met Axis: The Advanced Development in Digestive System Cancer

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2020 Oct 26:8:801. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2020.00801. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Zhiwei Shao¹, Haoqi Pan², Sheng Tu³, Jingying Zhang⁴, Sheng Yan¹, Anwen Shao⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
² Department of General Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
³ State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
⁴ Department of General Surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
⁵ Department of Neurosurgery, Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.

Abstract

Numerous studies have indicated that abnormal activation of the HGF/c-Met signaling pathway can lead to cell proliferation, invasiveness, and metastasis of cancers of the digestive system. Moreover, overexpression of c-Met has been implicated in poor prognosis of patients with these forms of cancer, suggesting the possibility for HGF/c-Met axis as a potential therapeutic target. Despite the large number of clinical and preclinical trials worldwide, no significant positive success in the use of anti-HGF/c-Met treatments on cancers of the digestive system has been achieved. In this review, we summarize advanced development of clinical research on HGF/c-Met antibody and small-molecule c-Met inhibitors of cancers of the digestive system and provide a possible direction for future research.

Keywords: c-Met; digestive system cancer; hepatocyte growth factor; inhibitors; molecular targeted therapy.

Publication types

Review