cMET as a potential therapeutic target in gastric cancer (Review).

Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Despite improvements in surgery and chemotherapy, the outcomes in patients with advanced gastric cancer remain poor. cMET is a member of the receptor tyrosine kinase family, and plays a key role in tumor survival, growth, angiogenesis and metastasis. cMET overexpression and/or gene amplification occurs in a significant proportion of gastric cancers. cMET is associated with a high tumor stage and poor prognosis. Several cMET inhibitors have been investigated in clinical trials, and the initial results are encouraging. It has become increasingly apparent that cMET is a promising therapeutic target in gastric cancer. In this review, we summarize the development of cMET inhibitors in the preclinical and clinical environment. In addition, we discuss the challenges of cMET-targeted therapy in gastric cancer and explore possible solutions.