Expression And Function Of HGF And C-MET Receptor In Pterygium

ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the expression of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptor (C-MET) in the tissue of pterygium to discusses their function inthepathogensis of pterygium.Methods33pterygium specimens were obtained from33pterygium patients during the operations and15normal conjunctival specimens were taken from the healthy eyes by the eye bank of the first affiliated hospital, zhejiang university school of medicine during the keratoplasty. Pathological examinations were performed under the optical microscope. The expression of HGF and C-MET receptor of pterygiumand normal conjunctiva were examined using immunofluorescence histochemicaltechnique. The independent sample test was used for statisticanalysis. ResultsThe present study showed that the HGF and C-MET receptor were expressed in the epithelial and subepithelial conjunctival tissues of both groups. And the expression of all were mainly in the squamous epithelial cells layer, particularly the basal cells which are adjacent to subepithelial mesenchyme.The average optical density (mean density) of HGF of normal conjunctival tissue was0.2644±0.02629, while the mean density of pterygium groupwas0.3167±0.07221.The expression of HGF between pterygium and normal conjunctival tissueswas significantly differently (t=3.658, P<0.05);the mean density of C-MET receptor in normal and pterygium conjunctival tissues was0.115±0.02086and0.19017±0.039118respectively.The expression of C-MET was significantly difference between the two groups.(t=6.938, P<0.05).ConclusionThe increased expression of HGF and its C-MET receptor in pterygium indicateds that HGF may play an integrated role in the development of pterygium. Further more,there gulating effect of cytokines to subepithelial tissues,which was abnormally expressedfrom the squamous epithelial cell layer,may be one of the main influencing factors of pterygiumdevelopment.