High levels of hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor in diffuse-type bronchioloalveolar cell carcinoma

✍ Scribed by Jun-ichi Yamashita; Michio Ogawa; Shogo Nakano; Kazutoshi Okabe; Michio Abe; Akinori Iwasaki; Motohisa Kuwahara; Yasuteru Yoshinaga; Takayuki Shirakusa

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 327 KB
• Volume: 83
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19981115)83:10<2091::aid-cncr7>3.0.co;2-e

✦ Synopsis

BACKGROUND.

Hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF) is a potent mitogen for various neoplastic cells, including neoplastic bronchial epithelia.

METHODS.

Immunoreactive hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF) was measured in extracts prepared from 129 nonsmall cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) specimens, using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. These specimens represented 5 cases of solitary/localized bronchioloalveolar cell carcinoma (BAC), 4 cases of diffuse/infiltrative BAC, 90 cases of non-BAC adenocarcinoma, 25 cases of squamous cell carcinoma, and 5 cases of large cell carcinoma.

RESULTS.

The mean concentration of immunoreactive HGF/SF was more than 19-fold higher in tissue extracts from diffuse-type BAC (265.0 Ϯ 110.2 ng/100 mg protein) than in those from solitary-type BAC (13.9 Ϯ 15.9, P Ͻ 0.005), non-BAC adenocarcinoma (13.8 Ϯ 14.9, P Ͻ 0.001), squamous cell carcinoma (13.2 Ϯ 14.4, P Ͻ 0.001), or large cell carcinoma (11.2 Ϯ 6.5, P Ͻ 0.005). When immunohistochemical staining for HGF/SF was performed, intense HGF/SF staining was uniformly observed in diffuse-type BAC tumor cells, but not in solitary-type BAC.

CONCLUSIONS.

Although BAC is included as a subtype of adenocarcinoma in the World Health Organization classification, diffuse-type BAC should be considered a distinct biologic entity, at least in terms of HGF/SF expression, from solitary-type BAC or non-BAC adenocarcinoma. In addition, the solitary and diffuse forms of BAC are known to be associated with different prognoses; for the latter, the prognosis is much poorer than for the former. The results of this study may at least partly explain this difference in prognosis.