Objective To investigate the expression of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptor, the c met proto oncogene mRNA in the human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and whether there is correlation between HGF c met expression and clinicopathological features of HCC Methods Thirty two patients with histologically verified HCC who underwent curative surgical resections between April 1997 and February 1998 in our hospital were included in the study The mean age of the patients was 57 years 75% of whom were men None had apparent distant metastases, and none received palliative treatment such as percutaneous ethanol injection and/or transcatheter arterial embolization before surgical resection Normal control liver tissues were obtained from five patients with hepatic angioma who underwent surgical resections Each sample was promptly frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80℃ Semi quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT PCR) was used to detect mRNA expression of HGF and c met We used β actin as a positive internal control of RT PCR efficiency To quantify PCR products, the bands representing reaction products on the films were scanned by densitometer with an image analysis system (Bio Rad, GS700) The relative concentrations of HGF or c met mRNA were expressed as the ration of the integrated optical density value (I O D) for the HGF or c met band/I O D for the β actin band Results HGF was expressed in 5 normal liver tissues, and 17/32 HCCs (53 1%) The expression level of HGF gene in HCC samples was lower than that in normal liver tissues (28 49%±9 94% vs 54 42%±9 61%, P <0 001) Statistical analysis showed that there is no significant relationship between HGF expression and clinicopathological factors of HCCs ( P >0 05) c met gene was expressed in 5 normal liver tissues,and all 32 HCC The mean expression level of c met gene was significantly higher in HCC tissues than in normal liver tissues (46 75%±13 03% vs 29 92%±89 72%, P <0 01) Patients were divided into two groups: low c met HCCs (18) and high c met HCCs (14) by the cutoff point of median value Intrahepatic metastasis and poor differentiation were more frequently noted in HCC patients with high c met expression than in HCC patients with low c met expression When HGF expression was plotted against c met expression, we found that there is no apparent correlation between HGF expression and c met expression in HCCs ( γ =0 0672, P >0 05) Conclusions HGF mRNA is lowly expressed and c met gene overexpressed in HCCs HGF c met system may play an active role in the development and metastasis of HCCs Objective To investigate the expression of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptor, the c met proto oncogene mRNA in the human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and whether there is correlation between HGF c met expression and clinicopathological features of HCC Methods Thirty two patients with Histologically verified HCC who underwent curative surgical resections between April 1997 and February 1998 in our hospital were included in the study The mean age of the patients was 57 years 75% of who were men None had apparent distant metastases, and none received palliative treatment such as Percutaneous ethanol injection and/or transcatheter arterial embolization before surgical resection normal control liver techniques were obtained from five patients with hepatic angioma who underwent surgical resections each sample was promptly frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80°C Semi quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction ( RT PCR) was used To detect mRNA expression of HGF and c met We used β actin as a positive internal control of RT PCR efficiency To quantify PCR products, the bands representation reaction products on the films were scanned by densitometer with an image analysis system (Bio Rad, GS700) The relative concentrations of HGF or c met mRNA expressed as the ration of the integrated optical density value (IOD) for the HGF or c met band/IOD for the β actin band Results HGF was expressed in 5 normal liver tissues, and 17/ 32 HCCs (53 1%) The expression level of HGF gene was HCC samples was lower than that in normal liver tissues (28 49%±9 94% vs 54 42%±9 61%, P <0 001). There is no significant relationship between HGF expression and clinicopathological factors of HCCs (P >0 05) c met gene was expressed in 5 normal liver tissues,and all 32 HCC The mean expression level of c met gene was significantly higher in HCC tissues than in Normal liver tissues (46 75%±13 03% vs 29 92%±89 72%, P<0 01) Patients were divided into two groups: low c met HCCs (18) and high c met HCCs (14) by the cutoff Point of median value Intrahepatic metastasis and poor differentiation were more frequently noted in HCC patients with high c met expression than HCC patients with low c met expression, HGF expression was plotted against c met expression, we found that there is no apparent correlation between HGF Expression and c met expression in HCCs (γ =0 0672, P >0 05) Conclusions HGF mRNA is lowly expressed and c met gene overexpressed in HCCs HGF c met system may play an active role in the development and metastasis of HCCs