Relationship between the expression of E-, N-cadherins and beta-catenin and tumor grade in astrocytomas.
Cadherins are cell-surface glycoproteins that mediate Ca2+-dependent, homophilic cell-cell adhesion. The classical cadherins, E- and N-cadherins, connect to beta-catenin, the lining protein. There appears to be a relationship between their dysfunction and tumor invasion and metastasis. The aim of our study was to examine the possibility of a relationship between alterations in the E- and N-cadherin and catenin expression and malignancy in astrocytomas. Forty-five astrocytomas (18 glioblastomas, 16 anaplastic astrocytomas, and 11 diffuse astrocytomas) were collected and stained immunohistochemically for cadherins and beta-catenin. None of the astrocytomas were immunoreactive for E-cadherin. N-cadherin and beta-catenin were present at cell-cell borders in 61% of glioblastomas and 31% of anaplastic astrocytomas. The incidence of immunoreactivity for N-cadherin and beta-catenin increased significantly with the histological grade of astrocytomas (p = 0.001, by Kruskal-Wallis test). Moreover, in anaplastic astrocytomas and glioblastomas, the Ki-67 labeling indices in both N-cadherin-positive and beta-catenin-positive cases were higher than that in negative cases (p = 0.05 and 0.03, respectively, by Fisher's exact test). These results suggest that the expression of N-cadherin or beta-catenin may be related to the biological behavior of astrocytomas.
Department of Neurosurgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Kanagawa, Japan. utsuki@med.kitasato-u.ac.jp
Satoshi
S
Utsuki
Yuichi
Y
Sato
Hidehiro
H
Oka
Benio
B
Tsuchiya
Sachio
S
Suzuki
Kiyotaka
K
Fujii
D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D015820:Cadherins / Q000032:analysis*; D002455:Cell Division; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000032:analysis; D051176:beta Catenin
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C495270:CTNNB1 protein, human; D015820:Cadherins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D015534:Trans-Activators; D051176:beta Catenin