Figure 2.

The C-Met expression on circulating monocytes is associated with an aggressive disease phenotype in GC patients. Clinical and pathological characteristics of the GC patients included in our cohort were analyzed (n = 80) (A–D,F). C-Met expression was assessed by flow cytometry as in Figure 1. Mean c-Met expression on circulating monocytes according to tumor location (esophagus, gastro–esophagic junction (GEJ), gastric body) (A), linitic status (B), tumor differentiation (C), presence of metastases (D,) and presence of an evolutive tumor burden (F). * indicates a p-value ≤ 0.05 and ** indicates a p-value ≤ 0.01 according to the Mann-Whitney test. NS: nonsignificant (E) For 37 patients who had received 1 or 0 cycles of chemotherapy before assessment of c-Met expression, survival probability has been estimated according to c-Met expression level on monocytes (high expression > median n = 16 (full line), lower expression < median, n = 21 (dashed line)). The median was calculated on the global population. (p = 0.017 according the Log-rank test). (G) For one patient with a localized tumor, the c-Met expression on circulating monocytes was assessed by flow cytometry before and after tumor resection (gastrectomy). Results are indicated as percentages of c-Met positive cells.