Targeting Key Protein To Contain Liver Cancer

Targeting a protein known as c-Met can help contain liver cancer, say US scientists. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the number three cause of cancer deaths in the world.

Penn State College of Medicine researchers. Hanning You, M.D., Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, and C. Bart Rountree, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics and pharmacology, targeted c-Met, a known receptor for hepatocyte growth factor, the substance that appears to drive liver cancer metastasis. In a pre-clinical translational study, they show that c-Met is overexpressed in metastatic liver cancer cells and is associated with a poor prognosis.

“In addition to finding that c-Met is a significant biomarker for liver cancer, we conducted an analysis of six published manuscripts and 1,051 patients,” said You. “Through this analysis we demonstrated and confirmed that c-Met activation is strongly associated with poor prognosis and aggressive features in patients with liver cancer tumors.”

Currently, physicians treat hepatocellular carcinoma with a “one size fits all” approach, so targeting c-Met may be an effective therapy for some patients.

“The five-year-survival of HCC is only 2 percent when diagnosed after metastasis,” said Rountree. “Sorafenib, the most recently approved mediation for advanced HCC, benefits patients with an extra two months survival.”

By targeting c-Met, researchers suppressed tumor growth and proliferation in a mouse model. They believe that molecular profiling will allow better treatment for the 45 percent of HCC patients who have c-Met positive tumors.