Lack of Association of C-Met-N375S Sequence Variant with Lung Cancer Susceptibility and Prognosis

BACKGROUND Previously, we identified a sequence variant (N375S) of c-Met gene, however, its association with lung cancer risk and prognosis remain undefined. PATIENTS AND METHODS We investigated the genotype distribution of the c-Met-N375S sequence variant in 206 lung cancer patients and 207 non-cancer controls in the Taiwanese population by DNA sequencing. RESULTS Lung cancer patients with variant A/G and G/G genotypes showed 1.08-fold increased cancer risk when compared to patients with the wild-type A/A genotype (95% CI, 0.60-1.91). There were no significant differences in postoperative survival between c-Met-N375S and wild-type patients. In the cell model, the c-Met-N375S cells showed a decrease in cell death upon treatment with MET inhibitor SU11274 compared to wild-type cells. CONCLUSION Our data suggest that the c-Met-N375S sequence variant may not play a significant role in cancer susceptibility and the prognosis of lung cancer patients. The correlation with chemoresponse of c-Met-N375S is worth further investigation in patients receiving MET therapy.