Expression of beta-catenin and E-cadherin in the adenoma-carcinoma sequence of the stomach.
beta-catenin plays an important role in the Wnt signaling pathway and the E-cadherin-catenin complex plays a critical role in the maintenance of normal tissue architecture. An alteration of any of the components of the E-cadherin-catenin complex is believed to result in the loss of cell-cell adhesion and to contribute to carcinogenesis. In order to evaluate such alterations in the gastric adenoma-carcinoma sequence, the abnormal expression of beta-catenin and E-cadherin and the mutations of beta-catenin exon 3 were studied. In the case of beta-catenin, nuclear immunoreactivity was noted in 17 (11.3%) out of 150 adenomas and 19 (17.1%) out of 111 carcinomas (p = 0.18). Among 51 gastric adenomas, no mutations were detected by direct sequencing analysis. The loss of membranous expression of both beta-catenin and E-cadherin linearly increased with tumor progression, however, beta-catenin loss was more frequent than E-cadherin. Our results show that the nuclear expression and membranous loss of beta-catenin without exon 3 mutation is relatively frequent in gastric adenomas. These suggest that alteration of other genes is primarily responsible for the nuclear translocation of beta-catenin in gastric adenomas.
Kim
Hee Sung
HS
Department of Pathology, National Cancer Center, 809 Madu 1-dong, Ilsan-gu, Goyang, Gyeonggi, 411-764, Korea. heesk@ncc.re.kr
Hong
Eun Kyung
EK
Park
So Yeon
SY
Kim
Woo Ho
WH
Lee
Hye Seung
HS
D000236:Adenoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D015820:Cadherins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D005091:Exons; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009154:Mutation; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D051176:beta Catenin
C495270:CTNNB1 protein, human; D015820:Cadherins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D051176:beta Catenin