{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,24]],"date-time":"2026-09-24T05:02:49Z","timestamp":1790226169164,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,24]],"date-time":"2026-09-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790208000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100014717","name":"Youth Science Fund Project","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["81502042"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["81502042"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100014717","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Oncol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Gastric cancer (GC) remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality globally. While molecular targeted therapies against HER2 and PD-L1 have advanced, the role of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) co-activation, specifically between c-MET and EGFR, remains elusive in GC. This study aimed to  investigate the correlation between c-MET and EGFR overexpression and clinicopathological features and prognosis in patients with gastric cancer, and to reveal prognostic significance of co-expression of c-MET and EGFR in gastric adenocarcinoma.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The clinicopathological data of 214 Chinese patients with GC were retrospectively analyzed, and the expression level of c-MET and EGFR were detected by immunohistochemistry. \u03c7\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      test was used to investigate associations with clinicopathological features. Kaplan-Meier survival curve and Cox proportional hazards models were employed to analyze the relationship between c-MET, EGFR and co-expression and patient prognosis.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The positive expression rates for c-MET and EGFR were 21.96% (47\/214) and 68.22% (146\/214), respectively. c-MET overexpression was significantly served as an independent predictor of poor OS (\n                      <jats:italic>P=0.023<\/jats:italic>\n                      ). Conversely, EGFR expression alone showed no significant prognostic value. Notably, 18.22% (39\/214) of cases exhibited co-expression of c-MET and EGFR. Patients with isolated EGFR expression exhibited the most favorable prognosis, while the isolated c-MET expression group had the worst clinical survival. Moreover, patients with c-MET and EGFR co-expression achieved better survival than those with isolated c-MET expression (\n                      <jats:italic>P = 0.007<\/jats:italic>\n                      ).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>c-MET overexpression is a robust prognostic indicator of adverse outcomes in GC. The frequent co-expression of c-MET and EGFR suggests a potential mechanism of RTK cross-talk, warranting further investigation into dual-targeted therapeutic strategies.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fonc.2026.1936498","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,24]],"date-time":"2026-09-24T04:39:50Z","timestamp":1790224790000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Prognostic significance of co-expression of c-MET and EGFR in locally advanced and metastatic gastric cancer: a retrospective cohort study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Zhang","family":"Ying","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University","place":["Wuxi, Jiangsu, 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