Yang X M, Park M
Molecular Oncology Group, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Canada.
Lab Invest. 1995 Oct;73(4):483-91.
The met proto-oncogene receptor tyrosine kinase has been identified as a receptor for hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)/scatter factor (SF). HGF/SF is a multifunctional cytokine that stimulates mitogenesis, dissociation, and motility of a broad spectrum of epithelial and endothelial cells in culture, promotes the progression of carcinoma cells to a more invasive phenotype, and acts as a morphogenic factor for tubular epithelia. HGF/SF is predominantly expressed by mesenchymal cells, whereas the met/HGF/SFR is predominantly expressed by epithelial and carcinoma cells in culture. We have shown by Northern analyses that the met/HGF/SFR is expressed in many adult mouse tissues. To elucidate the normal physiologic role for the met/HGF/SFR and the possible pathologic consequences of deregulation of this pathway, we have examined the expression of the met/HGF/SFR in adult mouse tissue by in situ hybridization. We show that the met/HGF/SFR is generally expressed in epithelia, including hepatocytes, epithelial cells that line the proximal and distal convoluted tubules of the kidney, epithelia of stomach, esophagus, uterus, lung and skin, as well as in granulosa cells of developing and mature oocytes. By reverse transcriptase PCR amplification, we show that the HGF/SF gene is expressed at low levels in many of these tissues. Our data support a possible role for the met/HGF/SFR in epithelial cell growth and tissue organization.
原癌基因受体酪氨酸激酶Met已被确定为肝细胞生长因子（HGF）/分散因子（SF）的受体。HGF/SF是一种多功能细胞因子，在培养中可刺激多种上皮细胞和内皮细胞的有丝分裂、解离和运动，促进癌细胞发展为更具侵袭性的表型，并作为肾小管上皮细胞的形态发生因子。HGF/SF主要由间充质细胞表达，而Met/HGF/SFR在培养的上皮细胞和癌细胞中表达为主。我们通过Northern分析表明，Met/HGF/SFR在许多成年小鼠组织中表达。为了阐明Met/HGF/SFR的正常生理作用以及该信号通路失调可能产生的病理后果，我们通过原位杂交检测了成年小鼠组织中Met/HGF/SFR的表达。我们发现，Met/HGF/SFR通常在上皮细胞中表达，包括肝细胞、肾近曲小管和远曲小管内衬的上皮细胞、胃、食管、子宫、肺和皮肤的上皮细胞，以及发育中和成熟卵母细胞的颗粒细胞。通过逆转录酶PCR扩增，我们发现HGF/SF基因在许多这些组织中低水平表达。我们的数据支持Met/HGF/SFR在上皮细胞生长和组织构建中可能发挥的作用。
