Biochemical and Immunomorphological Evaluation of Hepatocyte Growth Factor and c-Met Pathway in Patients with Critical Limb Ischemia

• Published in: European journal of vascular and endovascular surgery 2014-10, Vol.48 (4), p.430-437
• Main Authors: Vasuri, F, Fittipaldi, S, Abualhin, M, Degiovanni, A, Gargiulo, M, Stella, A, Pasquinelli, G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Arterial Occlusive Diseases - genetics; Arterial Occlusive Diseases - metabolism; Arterial Occlusive Diseases - surgery; Critical limb ischemia; DNA - genetics; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Gene Expression Regulation; Healing time; Hepatocyte growth factor; Humans; Hypoxia inducible factor; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit - biosynthesis; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit - genetics; Immunohistochemistry; Ischemia - genetics; Ischemia - metabolism; Ischemia - surgery; Ischemic lesion; Leg - blood supply; Male; Met receptor; Middle Aged; Prospective Studies; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met - biosynthesis; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met - genetics; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Skin - blood supply; Skin - metabolism; Skin - pathology; Surgery; Vascular Surgical Procedures; Wound Healing
• ISSN: 1078-5884; 1532-2165
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejvs.2014.05.002

Objectives Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), the c-Met receptor, and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) are crucial for regenerative processes including ischemic wound healing. The aims of the present study are (a) to analyze the tissue c-Met and HIF-1α expression in skin from patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI); (b) to compare the serum HGF levels of CLI and control subjects. Methods This is a prospective, controlled, single-center study. Thirty-seven patients were enrolled. A skin sample adjacent to the ischemic lesion was taken from 20 patients with CLI; skin samples were taken from the surgical wounds of 17 patients surgically treated for abdominal aortic aneurysm as healthy controls. Serum samples were taken in all cases. Samples were formalin fixed, paraffin embedded, and routinely processed. Tissue inflammation was histologically assessed. Immunohistochemistry was performed with antibodies against total c-Met receptor, activated Met (p-Met), and HIF-1α. RT-polymerase chain reaction was used to quantify HIF-1α mRNA. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed to evaluate serum HGF levels. Results With immunohistochemistry, while total c-Met was unchanged, different patterns of p-Met positivity were observed between CLI and control cases ( p