Karayiannakis A J, Syrigos K N, Chatzigianni E, Papanikolaou S, Karatzas G
First Department of Surgery, 1st IKA Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Hepatogastroenterology. 1998 Nov-Dec;45(24):2437-42.
BACKGROUND/AIMS: E-cadherin is a cell-cell adhesion molecule involved in tumor progression and metastasis. We evaluated the E-cadherin expression pattern in gastric cancer and investigated its relationship to histopathological features.
The expression of E-cadherin was evaluated in 83 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens of gastric cancer by immunohistochemistry.
In benign gastric mucosa, E-cadherin was expressed uniformly at the cell membrane. Abnormal E-cadherin expression with loss of membranous localization was found in 55 (56%) cancer specimens. Aberrant E-cadherin expression was found more often in diffuse (96%) and mixed type tumors (91%) than in intestinal type tumors (47%) (p=0.0001). A significantly higher proportion of signet-ring (84%) and undifferentiated tumors (87%) showed abnormal E-cadherin expression compared with adenocarcinomas with glandular morphology (57%) (p=0.01). There was a significant correlation between abnormal E-cadherin expression and degree of differentiation (p=0.0001), local tumor extent (p=0.002), and the presence of lymph node metastases (p=0.04).
Loss of normal E-cadherin expression may serve as a differentiation marker in gastric cancer.
背景/目的：E-钙黏蛋白是一种参与肿瘤进展和转移的细胞间黏附分子。我们评估了胃癌中E-钙黏蛋白的表达模式，并研究了其与组织病理学特征的关系。
通过免疫组织化学方法评估了83例福尔马林固定、石蜡包埋的胃癌标本中E-钙黏蛋白的表达。
在良性胃黏膜中，E-钙黏蛋白在细胞膜上均匀表达。55例（56%）癌标本中发现E-钙黏蛋白表达异常且膜定位缺失。弥漫型（96%）和混合型肿瘤（91%）中E-钙黏蛋白异常表达比肠型肿瘤（47%）更常见（p = 0.0001）。与具有腺管形态的腺癌（57%）相比，印戒细胞癌（84%）和未分化肿瘤（87%）中E-钙黏蛋白异常表达的比例显著更高（p = 0.01）。E-钙黏蛋白异常表达与分化程度（p = 0.0001）、局部肿瘤范围（p = 0.002）和淋巴结转移的存在（p = 0.04）之间存在显著相关性。
正常E-钙黏蛋白表达缺失可能作为胃癌的一种分化标志物。
