Met

The MET family of receptor tyrosine kinases contains MET, the receptor for hepatocyte growth factor (HGF, scatter factor), and RON (MST1R), the receptor for macrophage-stimulating protein. Both receptors have a characteristic extracellular sema domain, found also in plexins and semaphorins, plus a PSI domain and four immunoglobulin-like repeats. Ligand-induced dimerization triggers kinase activation and a program of invasive growth involving scattering, proliferation, survival, angiogenesis and morphogenesis, essential for embryogenesis, liver regeneration and wound healing. MET is pathologically activated by exon 14 skipping, amplification and activating mutations in lung, gastric, liver and kidney cancers, and by HGF overexpression. MET inhibitors such as cabozantinib, capmatinib and tepotinib are now approved anticancer agents.