Wang Y, et al. - In 495 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cases, researchers assessed mesenchymal epithelial transition (MET) gene status as well as its importance in the prognosis and correlations with various clinicopathological parameters. For this purpose, they used fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay. There were 28 (5.7%) MET FISH positive cases. MET FISH-positivity was not statistically significantly related to clinicopathologic characteristics. In both in stage I-II ESCC and in stage III-IVa ESCC, associations of MET FISH-positivity with disease free survival and overall survival were found. In ESCC, increased MET gene copy number was identified as an independent prognostic factor. Increased MET gene copy number might have potentially resulted in up-staging of ESCC. As a parameter, the promising utility of increased MET gene copy number was shown in clinical therapy and follow-up plans.