c-Met / HGFR (EP1454Y), RMab

Summary and Explanation

c-Met is a proto-oncogene that encodes hepatocyte growth factor receptor (HGFR). The HGFR protein possesses tyrosinase-kinase activity. MET is a membrane receptor that is essential for embryonic development and wound healing, with its only known ligand being hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). Met is normally expressed by cells of epithelial origin, while expression of HGF is restricted to cells of mesenchymal origin. Upon HGF stimulation, MET induces several biological responses that collectively give rise to a program known as invasive growth.

c-MET is deregulated in many types of human malignancies, including cancers of kidney, liver, stomach, breast, and brain. Normally, only stem cells and progenitor cells express MET, which allows these cells to grow invasively in order to generate new tissues in an embryo or regenerate damaged tissues in an adult. However, cancer stem cells are thought to hijack the ability to express MET, and thus become the cause of cancer persistence and spread to other sites in the body (metastasis).