Could E-Cadherin and CD10 Expression be Used to Differentiate Between Atypical Endometrial Hyperplasia and Endometrial Carcinoma?

Endometrial carcinoma contributes to morbidity and mortality among female individuals worldwide. The role of E-cadherin expression, as an adhesion molecule, in endometrial carcinoma is controversial. Moreover, the role of CD10-expressing stromal cells in endometrial carcinoma is still unclear. The aim of this work was to evaluate E-cadherin and CD10 expression in normal endometrium, atypical endometrial hyperplasia, and endometrial carcinoma, and assess their role to differentiate atypical endometrial hyperplasia from endometrial carcinoma. The association of E-cadherin and CD10 expression with clinicopathologic parameters of endometrial carcinoma was also determined. This retrospective study was carried out on 80 cases including 36 cases of endometrial adenocarcinoma (all were of endometrioid type), 34 cases of atypical endometrial hyperplasia, and another 10 cases of normal endometrial tissue. Immunohistochemistry for E-cadherin and CD10 was conducted. The studied patients were in their sixth and seventh decades of life with a mean age of 60.97 yr. Most of the carcinoma cases (18 cases) were grade 1, 10 cases were grade 2, and only 2 cases were grade 3. With regard to International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging, 28 cases were stage I, and only 2 cases were stage II. E-cadherin in normal endometrial tissue and atypical hyperplastic endometrial tissue showed predominantly membranous homogenous reactivity, and CD10 was detected as membranocyptoplasmic staining. However, we noticed the subcellular change of E-cadherin reactivity to be heterogenous and predominantly membranocytoplasmic in endometrial carcinoma, whereas CD10 remained membranocytoplasmic. Concerning E-cadherin expression, there was a statistically significant relationship between E-cadherin expression, tumor grade and FIGO staging, whereas there was an insignificant relationship between E-cadherin expression and patients' age, specimen type, tumor gross pattern, and histopathologic types. With regard to CD10 expression, there was a statistically significant relation between CD10 expression and tumor grade and FIGO staging with insignificant relation with patients' age, tumor gross pattern, specimen type, and tumor histologic types (villoglandular vs. usual endometrial adenocarcinoma). There was also a highly statistically significant positive relationship between E-cadherin expression and CD10 expression. This study puts the spot light on their role in differentiating between atypical endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial carcinoma, which is often difficult.