title: Expression of E-cadherin in normal, hyperplastic and neoplastic feline mammary tissue.
abstract: This paper describes an immunohistochemical study of the expression of E-cadherin in four samples of normal, eight samples of hyperplastic and 19 samples of neoplastic feline mammary tissue. In the normal tissues, the luminal epithelial cells showed a strong pattern of staining for E-cadherin at the cell-cell boundaries, whereas the myoepithelium showed no immunoreactivity. In the hyperplastic tissues and the five benign neoplasms, there were disturbances in the expression of E-cadherin in the luminal epithelium, in the form of the coexistence of membranous and cytoplasmic staining, together with immunoreactivity in a small percentage of myoepithelial cells. In 11 of 14 carcinomas, there was a reduction or absence of E-cadherin expression and abnormalities in the pattern of immunostaining; these changes were more pronounced in cribriform and solid carcinomas.
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001940:Breast / Q000378:metabolism*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000378:metabolism*; D002415:Cats / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D018226:Fibroadenoma / Q000378:metabolism; D006965:Hyperplasia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000662:veterinary; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000662:veterinary; D015674:Mammary Neoplasms, Animal / Q000378:metabolism*; D018300:Papilloma, Intraductal / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins