title: Differential expression of E-cadherin in metastatic lesions comparing to primary oral squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The main cause of treatment failure in resectable oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is metastasis. E-cadherin (E-cad) plays a principal role in cell adhesion and motility, and is associated with OSCC progression. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of E-cad expression in OSCC with lymph node metastasis which had radical neck dissection done.
  
  
  METHODS
  Immunohistochemistry was used to detect E-cad expression in normal oral mucosa (NOM) (n = 10), oral precancerous lesions (OPLs) (n = 20), primary OSCC (n = 45), and their paired metastatic lesions (n = 45). E-cad immunoreactivity correlated with the clinicopathologic features.
  
  
  RESULTS
  E-cadherin immunoreactivity was progressively reduced in the NOM followed by OPLs and primary OSCC (58%). It decreased significantly in the advanced stages of OSCC. However, the increase in E-cad immunoreactivity was observed in the majority (60%) of metastatic lesions in relation to primary OSCC. Patients with such increased or positive immunoreactivity of E-cad in metastatic lesions exhibited worse prognosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggested a dynamic change in E-cad immunoreactivity during tumorigenesis and metastasis of OSCC. In a multivariate analysis, E-cad immunoreactivity in metastasis lesions (odds ratio 3.74, 95% CI 1.15-14.67; P = 0.040) implied the potential role of mortality predictors for OSCC cases with nodal involvement.
authors.affiliation: Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Department of Dentistry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: K-F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: C-S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: C-J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: M-T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Lui
authors.forename: C-Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: S-Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015820:Cadherins / Q000032:analysis*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins