Serum hepatocyte growth factor and interleukin-6 are effective prognostic markers for non-small cell lung cancer.

Aim: We surveyed prognostic biomarkers for resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Patients And Methods: We obtained preoperative serum from 109 patients, and measured the levels of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and nicotinamide N-methytransferase (NNMT) in the sera.

Results: The median HGF and IL-6 contents were 860 pg/ml and 2.

Serum levels of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase in patients with lung cancer.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine if nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) is useful as a biomarker of lung cancer (stages I-III).

Methods: We established an ELISA system for NNMT. We determined the levels of NNMT and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in sera of 113 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients undergoing surgery and sera of 50 non-neoplastic lung disease patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and of 24 healthy donors.

Stat3 up-regulates expression of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase in human cancer cells.

Purpose: To discover new molecular targets for cancer therapy and diagnosis, we surveyed signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (Stat3)-regulated genes, because constitutive activation of Stat3 is associated with a wide variety of human malignancies.

Methods: We investigated the Stat3-regulated genes in 293 cells with cDNA microarray analysis and found that Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) was induced on stimulation of the cells with leukemia inhibitory factor. We examined the expression of NNMT in several types of cancer cells by real-time quantitative RT-PCR.

Generation of inhibitory DNA aptamers against human hepatocyte growth factor.

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), a multifunctional cytokine, can act on many cell types. It is involved in cancer growth and metastasis by enhancing the motility of cancer cells and stimulating angiogenesis. The development of effective inhibitors for HGF is an important issue in cancer therapy.

The human hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene is transcriptionally activated by leukemia inhibitory factor through the Stat binding element.

We found that human melanoma SEKI and neuroepithelioma NAGAI cells, which are known to secrete high concentrations of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), also secrete high levels of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). We therefore examined the role of LIF in HGF expression and examined the human HGF promoter. The expression of both LIF and HGF mRNA is very low in HEK293 cells.