title: Altered expression of a Li-cadherin in gastric cancer and intestinal metaplasia.
abstract: The aims of this study were to examine Li-cadherin expression in 74 gastric carcinoma tissues, 10 cases with normal gastric tissues, and 21 cases with intestinal metaplasia and to investigate the role of Li-cadherin in cell differentiation, cancer invasion, and metastasis. Expression of Li-cadherin was analyzed by immunohistochemistry and semiquantitative polymerase chain reaction and correlated with clinicopathological parameters. Immunohistochemistry showed that Li-cadherin was mainly present on the cell membrane and there was no staining for liver-intestine cadherin in normal tissues. The reduction of Li-cadherin mRNA expression was inversely correlated with the grade of differentiation (P < 0.05). Significant differences in the expression of liver-intestine cadherin were found in lymphatic metastasis of the tumors (P < 0.05), but the expression of liver-intestine cadherin was not associated with gender (P=0.748), serosal invasion (P=0.136), TNM stage (P=0.172), Helicobacter pylori infection (P=0.572), liver metastasis (P=0.374), or peritoneal metastasis (P=0.621). Multivariate analysis revealed that the expression of Li-cadherin is an important predictor of lymph node metastasis. We conclude that there is a significant correlation between Li-cadherin expression and the differentiation of gastric carcinoma, and Li-cadherin can be a good marker to detect gastric cancer at early stages. Increased Li-cadherin expression may contribute to gastric cancer invasion to lymph nodes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, WuHan, PR China. dongwg@public.wh.hb.cn
authors.forename: Weiguo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Qiongfang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015820:Cadherins / Q000032:analysis*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007414:Intestinal Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008679:Metaplasia; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: C490584:CDH17 protein, human; D015820:Cadherins; D012333:RNA, Messenger