The association of HGF/Cmet overexpression with clinicopathologic factors in hepatocellular carcinoma.

297 Background: The Cmet receptor tyrosine kinase is overexpressed in 20-50% of hepatocellular cancers (HCC) and has been associated with aggressive features. Little is known about the clinical characteristics of patients whose tumors overexpress Cmet. We examined Cmet expression levels on a series of 80 HCC samples to evaluate for an association between overexpression and clinicopathologic features. Methods: Samples from 80 patients with HCC were assessed with immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis for hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and Cmet. Positive staining was correlated with age, sex, race, HCC risk factors, tumor grade, stage, metastatic sites and survival. Results: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) patients were more likely to have Cmet positive tumors than those with other risk factors for HCC such as hepatitis C or alcohol. Higher tumor grade was associated with Cmet positivity. No evidence of association between Cmet positivity and survival was seen although HGF positivity tended to associate with a trend toward decreased survival. Conclusions: Cmet pathway overexpression in HCC is associated with distinct clinical and pathologic features. [Table: see text]