Department of Histopathology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Histopathology. 2013 Apr;62(5):695-701. doi: 10.1111/his.12066. Epub 2013 Jan 24.
E-cadherin is a cell adhesion molecule expressed in normal breast tissue; it is used generally as a phenotypical marker in breast cancer, with the absence of its expression observed frequently in lobular tumours. We have reported E-cadherin expression previously in 1516 ductal breast carcinoma using tissue microarray (TMA), where 7% of cases showed a complete absence of membrane staining. In this study, we investigated further the existence of E-cadherin-negative ductal carcinoma and evaluated the status of the E-cadherin-catenin complex in this subgroup.
Full-face sections from excision specimens of 72 ductal breast carcinomas reported previously as E-cadherin-negative were assessed morphologically using haematoxylin and eosin staining, and immunohistochemically using two E-cadherin antibodies (HECD-1 and CDH1/4A2C7) and antibodies recognizing β-catenin and p120 proteins. Only membrane expression was considered.
Forty-seven ductal carcinomas were assessed after the exclusion of inappropriate cases; 34 of these showed positive E-cadherin (HECD-1) membrane expression which was focal and weak and seen mainly in invasion fronts. Ten cases showed E-cadherin (4A2C7) staining. Staining for p120 and β-catenin showed membrane staining in all cases for both antibodies, which was variable in both intensity and the proportion of positive cells.
These results demonstrate that E-cadherin-negative ductal carcinoma is rare, and in these cases p120 and β-catenin maintained their membranous localization, suggesting a functional E-cadherin-membrane complex.
E-钙黏蛋白是一种在正常乳腺组织中表达的细胞黏附分子；它通常被用作乳腺癌的表型标志物，在小叶肿瘤中经常观察到其表达缺失。我们之前使用组织微阵列（TMA）报道了 1516 例乳腺导管癌中 E-钙黏蛋白的表达，其中 7%的病例表现为膜染色完全缺失。在这项研究中，我们进一步研究了 E-钙黏蛋白阴性乳腺导管癌的存在，并评估了该亚组中 E-钙黏蛋白-连环蛋白复合物的状态。
对之前报道为 E-钙黏蛋白阴性的 72 例乳腺导管癌的切除标本进行全脸切片，使用苏木精和伊红染色进行形态学评估，并使用两种 E-钙黏蛋白抗体（HECD-1 和 CDH1/4A2C7）和识别β-连环蛋白和 p120 蛋白的抗体进行免疫组织化学评估。仅考虑膜表达。
排除不适当病例后，评估了 47 例乳腺导管癌；其中 34 例显示出阳性 E-钙黏蛋白（HECD-1）膜表达，其为局灶性和弱表达，主要见于侵袭前缘。10 例显示 E-钙黏蛋白（4A2C7）染色。p120 和β-连环蛋白的染色显示两种抗体的膜染色在所有病例中均为阳性，其强度和阳性细胞比例均存在差异。
这些结果表明 E-钙黏蛋白阴性的乳腺导管癌很少见，在这些病例中，p120 和β-连环蛋白保持其膜定位，表明存在功能性的 E-钙黏蛋白-膜复合物。
