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Updated: Jun 3, 2026
Gene Regulation and Targeted Therapy in Gastric Cancer Peritoneal Metastasis: Radiological Findings from Dual Energy CT and PET/CT
Published on: January 22, 2018
MET expression and amplification in patients with localized gastric cancer
Yelena Y Janjigian1, Laura H Tang, Daniel G Coit
1Gastrointestinal Oncology Service, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY 10065, USA. janjigiy@mskcc.org
Background:
MET, the receptor for hepatocyte growth factor, has been proposed as a therapeutic target in gastric cancer. This study assessed the incidence of MET expression and gene amplification in tumors of Western patients with gastric cancer.
Methods:
Tumor specimens from patients enrolled on a preoperative chemotherapy study (NCI 5700) were examined for the presence of MET gene amplification by FISH, MET mRNA expression by quantitative PCR, MET overexpression by immunohistochemistry (IHC), and for evidence of MET pathway activation by phospho-MET (p-MET) IHC.
Results:
Although high levels of MET protein and mRNA were commonly encountered (in 63% and 50% of resected tumor specimens, respectively), none of these tumors had MET gene amplification by FISH, and only 6.6% had evidence of MET tyrosine kinase activity by p-MET IHC.
Conclusions:
In this cohort of patients with localized gastric cancer, the presence of high MET protein and RNA expression does not correlate with MET gene amplification or pathway activation, as evidenced by the absence of amplification by FISH and negative p-MET IHC analysis.
Impact:
This article shows a lack of MET amplification and pathway activation in a cohort of 38 patients with localized gastric cancer, suggesting that MET-driven gastric cancers are relatively rare in Western patients.
