Cancer Res Treat. 2003 Feb;35(1):16-24. doi: 10.4143/crt.2003.35.1.16.
The significance of abnormal E-cadherin/ catenin complex expression and the correlation of each of its components in cancer remain unclear. This study aimed to characterize the clinical significance of the abnormal membrane expression of the E-cadherin/ catenin complex and the localization patterns of the beta- catenin and p120CTN in early gastric cancer.
Immunohistochemical staining for E-cadherin, alpha-, beta- and gamma-catenin and p120CTN were performed on 47 early gastric cancer specimens. The patterns of membrange expression of the E-cadherin/catenin complex, and the localization patterns of the beta-catenin and p120CTN, were semi quantitatively graded as loss, reduced, preserved or negative and positive.
An abnormal immunoreactivity of at least one of E-cadherin/catenin complex proteins was noted in 46 (97.8%) of the 47 early gastric cancer cases. There were no significant correlations of the membrane E-cadherin/catenin expression with, either, sex, age, location, size, macroscopic type, depth of invasion or lymphovascular invasion. Abnormal expressions of membrane E-cadherin, beta-catenin and gamma-catenin were more frequent in the diffuse-type than in the intestinal type. No linear correlation was shown for the beta-catenin between the membrane and cytoplasmic expressions. Nuclear staining of the beta-catenin was observed in 5 (10.6%) cases, but nuclear staining of the p120CTN, a promotor of Kaiso transcriptional factor, was not seen.
These results suggest that alterations of the E-cadherin/catenin complex may be involved in the early stages of gastric cancer. Although beta-catenin functions as a transcriptional factor, the inactivation of membrane E-cadherin does not appear to result in significant increases in the level of cytoplasmic beta-catenin. Kaiso transcriptional factor may not be involved in the early carcinogenesis of gastric cancer.
E-钙黏蛋白/连环蛋白复合物异常表达的意义及其各成分的相关性在癌症中的仍不明确。本研究旨在描述 E-钙黏蛋白/连环蛋白复合物异常膜表达以及早期胃癌中β-连环蛋白和 p120CTN 定位模式的临床意义。
对 47 例早期胃癌标本进行 E-钙黏蛋白、α、β和γ连环蛋白及 p120CTN 的免疫组织化学染色。E-钙黏蛋白/连环蛋白复合物的膜表达模式和β-连环蛋白和 p120CTN 的定位模式，被半定量地分级为缺失、减少、保留或阴性和阳性。
在 47 例早期胃癌病例中，至少有一种 E-钙黏蛋白/连环蛋白复合物蛋白的异常免疫反应被发现，占 46 例（97.8%）。E-钙黏蛋白/连环蛋白的膜表达与性别、年龄、部位、大小、大体类型、浸润深度或血管淋巴管浸润均无显著相关性。弥漫型比肠型中膜 E-钙黏蛋白、β-连环蛋白和γ-连环蛋白的异常表达更为常见。β-连环蛋白在膜和细胞质表达之间没有线性相关性。5 例（10.6%）病例观察到β-连环蛋白核染色，但未见 Kaiso 转录因子的 p120CTN 核染色。
这些结果表明，E-钙黏蛋白/连环蛋白复合物的改变可能参与胃癌的早期阶段。尽管β-连环蛋白作为转录因子发挥作用，但膜 E-钙黏蛋白的失活似乎不会导致细胞质β-连环蛋白水平的显著增加。Kaiso 转录因子可能不参与胃癌的早期癌变。
