Elevated epithelial insulin-like growth factor receptor I (IGFR-I) and C-MET (hepatocyte growth factor receptor) expression in mild and moderate ulcerative colitis can enhance the…

Background: IGFR-I and c-met are known to be involved in regenerative/age-related changes in several human tissues, but their correlation to the epithelial layer is not clear. Aims: to examine the role of these proteins in ulcerative colitis (UC) considering of the elevated risk of malignant transformation. Materials and methods: 5µm thick sections of paraffin embedded formalin fixed colonic biopsies from mildly, moderately and severely active UC and normal colon were assayed immunohistochemically to IGFR-I (Chemicon, Mab 1120) and c-met (Santa Cruz, C12) expression. Altogether 80 samples (10 samples per disease…