Chen J H, Liu T Y, Wu C W, Chi C W
Department of Surgery, Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Med Hypotheses. 2001 Oct;57(4):503-5. doi: 10.1054/mehy.2001.1374.
Surgical treatment of gastric cancer patients is dismal because advanced tumor is often noted at diagnosis. In order to obtain better adjuvant therapy for gastric cancer patients after operation, it is important to understand the mechanism of invasion and metastasis. It is well known that binding of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) to its receptor (c-Met) regulates gastric cancer progression and metastasis. Recently, HGF was found to up-regulate the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) gene and increase prostaglandin (PG)synthesis in gastric mucosa cells. Over-expression of COX-2 and increased PG secretion have also been found to be involved in the growth and metastasis of gastric cancer. These results together suggest that the signaling pathway of HGF and c-Met may be mediated through ERK2 activation, up-regulation of COX-2 and increased production of PGE(2)in gastric cancer cells. In view of the fact that c-Met is over-expressed in the majority of gastric cancer patients with poor prognosis, COX-2 specific inhibitors may provide beneficial effects in these patients.
胃癌患者的手术治疗效果不佳，因为在诊断时常常发现肿瘤已处于晚期。为了给胃癌术后患者获得更好的辅助治疗，了解侵袭和转移机制很重要。众所周知，肝细胞生长因子（HGF）与其受体（c-Met）的结合调节胃癌的进展和转移。最近，发现HGF可上调胃黏膜细胞中环氧合酶-2（COX-2）基因的表达并增加前列腺素（PG）的合成。COX-2的过表达和PG分泌增加也被发现与胃癌的生长和转移有关。这些结果共同表明，HGF和c-Met的信号通路可能通过ERK2激活、COX-2上调以及胃癌细胞中PGE（2）产生增加来介导。鉴于c-Met在大多数预后不良的胃癌患者中过表达，COX-2特异性抑制剂可能对这些患者有益。
