UOD Citopatologia II Faculty of Medicine, University La Sapienza, AO Sant'Andrea, 00189 Rome, Italy.
Anticancer Res. 2010 Dec;30(12):4993-7.
The aim of this study was to determine whether modulation of expression of cell adhesion molecules may occur in neoplastic transformation of endometrial epithelium.
E-Cadherin and α-catenin protein expression were evaluated by immunohistochemistry in 124 biopsies representative of normal, hyperplastic and neoplastic endometrium.
In normal endometrium (proliferative, secretive and atrophic endometrium) strong homogeneous, E-cadherin and α-catenin reactivity was found; 58.3% and 66.6% of biopsies representative of simple hyperplastic endometrium were homogeneously positive for E-cadherin and α-catenin, respectively, whereas no samples representative of atypical hyperplasia showed evidence of homogeneous E-cadherin or α-catenin expression. No expression of homogeneous E-cadherin was seen in endometrial adenocarcinomas; α-catenin homogeneous immunostaining was observed in 2 G1 and 2 G2 out of 22 adenocarcinoma samples (18.2%). A homogeneous co-expression of both molecules was seen only in normal (70%) and simple hyperplastic (46%) endometrium.
These results suggest that E-cadherin and α-catenin down-regulation might be associated with neoplastic transformation of endometrial tissues.
本研究旨在确定细胞黏附分子表达的调节是否可能发生在子宫内膜上皮的肿瘤转化中。
通过免疫组织化学评估了 124 个活检标本中 E-钙黏蛋白和α-连环蛋白的蛋白表达，这些标本代表了正常、增生和肿瘤性子宫内膜。
在正常子宫内膜（增殖期、分泌期和萎缩期子宫内膜）中发现了强均一的 E-钙黏蛋白和α-连环蛋白反应；58.3%和 66.6%的简单增生性子宫内膜活检标本分别均匀阳性表达 E-钙黏蛋白和α-连环蛋白，而无典型增生的标本则无均匀 E-钙黏蛋白或α-连环蛋白表达。在子宫内膜腺癌中未见均匀 E-钙黏蛋白表达；在 22 例腺癌样本中，有 2 例 G1 和 2 例 G2 出现α-连环蛋白均匀免疫染色（18.2%）。这两种分子的均匀共表达仅见于正常（70%）和单纯增生（46%）的子宫内膜。
这些结果表明 E-钙黏蛋白和α-连环蛋白的下调可能与子宫内膜组织的肿瘤转化有关。
