Quercetin inhibits HGF/c-Met signaling and HGF-stimulated melanoma cell migration and invasion

Background Melanoma is notorious for its propensity to metastasize, which makes treatment extremely difficult. Receptor tyrosine kinase c-Met is activated in human melanoma and is involved in melanoma progression and metastasis. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)-mediated activation of c-Met signaling has been suggested as a therapeutic target for melanoma metastasis. Quercetin is a dietary flavonoid that exerts anti-metastatic effect in various types of cancer including melanoma. In a previous report, we demonstrated that quercetin inhibited melanoma cell migration and invasion in vitro, and prevented melanoma cell lung metastasis in vivo. In this study, we sought to determine the involvement of HGF/c-Met signaling in the anti-metastatic action of quercetin in melanoma.