Expression of E-cadherin in squamous cell carcinomas of the cervix with correlations to clinicopathological features.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the expression of E-cadherin, a calcium-dependent cell adhesion molecule, in a retrospective analysis of paraffin-embedded tissue specimens of cervical squamous carcinoma and the relationship with histopathological differentiation and lymph node status.


METHODS
In this study, we investigated by immunohistochemistry E-cadherin expression in ten normal cervical epithelia and 24 cervical invasive squamous carcinomas.


RESULTS
Normal cervical squamous epithelium showed strong expression of E-cadherin at the membrane of the cell and intercellular junctions. In 24 tumors immunnostained by E-cadherin antibody, 11 (46%) showed preserved expression and 13 (54%) reduced expression. There was no significant correlation between E-cadherin expression and histological differentiation (p = 0.650, p = 0.294). In the status of lymph node metastasis, reduced expression of E-cadherin was seen in 11/15 (73%) with lymph node metastasis versus 2/9 (22%) without lymph node metastasis. There was a significant inverse correlation between E-cadherin expression and lymph node metastasis (p = 0.032).


CONCLUSIONS
Reduced E-cadherin expression may be an important factor among a variety of biologic events that occur during the process of metastasis. However, this should be explored by a large scale study.
Yaldizl
M
M
Department of Pathology, Dicle University, School of Medicine, Diyarbakir, Turkey.
Hakverdi
A U
AU
Bayhan
G
G
Akkuş
Z
Z
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015820:Cadherins