Abstract

Hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF) acts as a mitogen, motogen and morphogen as well as an important angiogenic factor. In cancer cells, HGF/SF acts mainly as an inducer of cell migration and invasion with multiple motility signals mediated by the HGF receptor, c-MET. An important component in this signalling chain is the Rho/ROCK pathway, with resultant changes in cytoskeletal arrangement leading to cell motility/migration. This article outlines knowledge of HGF/SF in relation to cancer cell motility from previous reviews and focuses on more recent studies on the effect of HGF/SF in relation to RhoC GTPase and ROCK in breast cancer cells.

Keywords: Cancer cell motility, Hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor, Rho, ROCK, GTPase, c-Met, metastasis, actin cytoskeleton, EMT, ribozyme, amoeboid cell motility, Y27632, lamellipodia, cancer cell invasion, RhoC, stress fibres, motility signals, Ras, doxycycline, mitogen, breat cancer, MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, Rho/rac pathway