Expression of E-cadherin catenin and C-erbB-2 gene products in invasive ductal-type breast carcinomas.
Special attention has focused on E-cadherin and the invasiveness of breast carcinoma because E-cadherin was suggested to be the major cell adhesion molecule in the mammary gland. In the cytoplasm, E-cadherin is linked to beta-catenin and alpha-catenin which mediate the connection of the cytoskeleton. In addition, c-erbB-2 oncoprotein causes disruption of this cell adhesion system through beta-catenin phosphorylation. We investigated the expression of E-cadherin, alpha-catenin and c-erbB-2 gene products in 66 invasive ductal carcinomas by immuno-histochemistry to examine the relation between the E-cadherin mediated cell adhesion system and histological subtypes used in Japan as well as histological grading. The series included 21 papillotubular carcinomas, 16 solid-tubular carcinomas and 29 scirrhous carcinoma. There were 33 cases of grade I, 20 cases of grade II and 13 cases of grade III. We defined P&P&N as E-cadherin positive and alpha-catenin positive and c-erbB-2 negative cases to evaluate the preservation of the E-cadherin mediated cell adhesion system. There were only 13 cases (19.7%) of P&P&N in total. As for the frequency of E-cadherin/alpha-catenin/c-erbB-2 expression and P&P&N, no significant difference between histological subtypes was found. However, those in the grade I group tended to be higher than in the other two grade groups. Regarding the rates of alpha-catenin positive cases and P&P&N cases, there were significant differences between the grade I group and a combination group consisting of the grade II and grade III groups. These results suggest that the E-cadherin-mediated cell adhesion system is frequently lost in invasive ductal-type breast cancers by random loss of E-cadherin/catenins or c-erbB-2 overexpression, and that the preservation of this system correlates with well differentiated morphological features.
Nagae
Yasushi
Y
Department of Pathology, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8602, Japan.
Kameyama
Kohji
K
Yokoyama
Munehiro
M
Naito
Zenya
Z
Yamada
Nobutaka
N
Maeda
Shotaro
S
Asano
Goro
G
Sugisaki
Yuichi
Y
Tanaka
Shigeo
S
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000032:analysis*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000737:chemistry*; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis*; D051178:alpha Catenin
D015820:Cadherins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D051178:alpha Catenin; C495273:CTNNA1 protein, human