E-cadherin, beta-catenin adhesion complex and relation to matrilysin expression in pT3 rectosigmoid cancers

Clinical significance of serum levels of soluble E-cadherin in patients with gastric carcinoma

AIM: To measure serum levels of soluble E-cadherin (sE-cadherin) in patients with gastric cancer and to evaluate the relationship of serum levels of sE-cadherin with tumor clinicopathological features and patient survival.

METHODS: Peripheral blood samples were collected from 127 gastric cancer patients and 31 healthy controls from March 2003 to September 2004. Serum levels of sE-cadherin were measured using double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The clinical pathological data and survive data for all patients were recorded.

RESULTS: Serum levels of sE-cadherin were significantly higher in patients with gastric cancer than in healthy controls (43.83 μg/L ± 15.77 μg/L vs 17.17 μg/L ± 5.38 μg/L, P = 0.000, t = 8.34). Serum levels of sE-cadherin were closely associated with tumor differentiation, depth of invasion and lymph node metastasis (all P < 0.05). Patients with lower levels of serum sE-cadherin had significant survival advantage over those with higher levels of serum sE-cadherin (P < 0.001), and such survival advantage was independent of depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis and tumor differentiation.

CONCLUSION: sE-cadherin may serve as a potential biological marker for the diagnosis and prognosis of gastric cancer.

E-cadherin and β-catenin expression in sebaceous eyelid adenocarcinomas

BACKGROUND

Since the E-cadherin-catenin complex is of importance in the cancerogenesis of epithelial tumors, we examined the expression of E-cadherin and β-catenin in sebaceous adenocarcinomas of the eyelid and correlated the results with clinicopathological parameters.

METHODS

The study included histological specimen of 32 patients with sebaceous adenocarcinomas of the eyelid. The expression of E-cadherin, β-catenin, and Ki-67 nuclear antigen was analyzed by immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS

The membranous expression of E-cadherin and of β-catenin was reduced in 17 (53%) patients and 18 (56%) patients, respectively, while elevated cytoplasmic levels and a nuclear accumulation of β-catenin were found in 27 (84%) and six (19%) patients, respectively. The low expression of membranous β-catenin was associated with a high degree of tumor infiltration (p = 0.02), high amount of inflammation (p = 0.01), and high degree of poor tumor differentiation (p < 0.001). In a similar manner, a low membranous E-cadherin expression in tumors was significantly associated with poor tumor differentiation (p = 0.001) and high tumor cell proliferation rate (p = 0.004). The Ki-67 proliferation index was significantly higher in the group with low membranous E-cadherin expression than in the group with high membranous E-cadherin expression (62.3 ± 20.8 versus 42.1 ± 15.3; p = 0.004). The membranous E-cadherin expression and the membranous β-catenin expression were significantly associated with each other (Fisher's exact probability test, p = 0.03).

CONCLUSIONS

Sebaceous eyelid adenocarcinomas showed a decrease in the membranous expression of E-cadherin and of β-catenin. These changes were associated with poor tumor differentiation and an increase in the tumor infiltration and inflammation, pointing at a potential role of a low E-cadherin and low β-catenin expression for poor prognosis of sebaceous eyelid adenocarcinomas. Correspondingly, the cell proliferation index and the expression of E-cadherin were inversely correlated with each other. The findings suggest that the immunohistochemical detection of a low E-cadherin and low β-catenin expression may help in the examination and staging of sebaceous eyelid adenocarcinomas.