Saha Baisakhi, Arase Ahren, Imam Sarah S, Tsao-Wei Denice, Naritoku Wesley Y, Groshen Susan, Jones Lawrence W, Imam S Ashraf
Gene Therapy Program, Huntington Medical Research Institutes, Pasadena, California 91101, USA.
Prostate. 2008 Jan 1;68(1):78-84. doi: 10.1002/pros.20670.
The expression of E-cadherin in the intercellular adhesion of metastatic prostate cancer cells in bone, which is the most prevalent site of metastatic growth, remains elusive.
The aim of the study was to compare the concurrent membranous expression of E-cadherin and beta-catenin proteins, the state which is known to be associated with the cellular adhesion function of E-cadherin, in prostate biopsy tissue specimens by immunohistochemical staining method. The expression patterns of E-cadherin or beta-catenin were classified as homogeneous (most cells exhibiting positively), heterogeneous (a few scattered patches of cells with positivity) or negative.
Benign prostate hyperplasia cells exhibited homogeneous expression of both E-cadherin and beta-catenin in 9 of 11 (82%), whereas the primary prostate cancer cells were homogeneously positive for both proteins only in 4 of 22 (18%) of the cases. The results are similar to those reported in literature. However, in contrast to the primary cancer, a significantly increased frequency of the metastatic prostate cancer cells in bone exhibited homogeneous expression of E-cadherin and beta-catenin in 12 of 17 (71%) of the cases. A statistically significant association was observed between the overexpression of both proteins and the metastatic prostate cancer cells in bone (Fisher's exact P < 0.001).
The result of the study demonstrated for the first time that the membranous overexpression of E-cadherin and beta-catenin are significantly associated with the metastatic prostate cancer cells in bone and that the high frequency of expression suggest their involvement in the intercellular adhesion of the metastatic cells in bone.
在转移性前列腺癌细胞于骨组织（转移性生长最常见的部位）的细胞间黏附中，E-钙黏蛋白的表达情况仍不明确。
本研究旨在通过免疫组织化学染色法，比较前列腺活检组织标本中E-钙黏蛋白和β-连环蛋白的膜共表达情况，已知这种状态与E-钙黏蛋白的细胞黏附功能相关。E-钙黏蛋白或β-连环蛋白的表达模式分为均匀型（大多数细胞呈阳性）、异质型（少数散在的阳性细胞斑块）或阴性。
11例良性前列腺增生细胞中有9例（82%）E-钙黏蛋白和β-连环蛋白均呈均匀表达，而22例原发性前列腺癌细胞中仅有4例（18%）两种蛋白均呈均匀阳性。结果与文献报道相似。然而，与原发性癌不同，骨转移前列腺癌细胞中E-钙黏蛋白和β-连环蛋白呈均匀表达的频率显著增加，17例中有12例（71%）。两种蛋白的过表达与骨转移前列腺癌细胞之间存在统计学显著关联（Fisher精确检验P<0.001）。
本研究结果首次表明，E-钙黏蛋白和β-连环蛋白的膜过表达与骨转移前列腺癌细胞显著相关，且高表达频率提示它们参与了骨转移细胞的细胞间黏附。
