c-Met, also named as hepatocyte growth factor receptor (HGFR), is a single pass tyrosine kinase receptor, which is mainly expressed on the cells of epithelial origin, and play essential role in embryonic development, organogenesis and wound healing. HGF and its splicing isoform are the only know ligands of cMet. Abnormal activation of cMet due to overexpression of Met or its ligands, fusion mutation as well as exon14 skipping have been implicated in oncogenesis.
Ba/F3 cell, a murine interleukin-3 dependent pro-B cell line, is a popular system for exploring both kinases and their inhibitors, because some protein kinases can render the Ba/F3 cells to be depended on the activation of the kinases instead of IL-3 supplement, while their inhibitors can antagonize the kinase-dependent growth effects.