title: E-cadherin expression correlates with histologic type but not tumour grade in invasive breast cancer.
abstract: The traditional classification of infiltrating breast carcinomas into ductal and lobular can be diagnostically challenging in a small proportion of cases with equivocal histological features and in in-situ lesions with overlapping features. Distinguishing between the infiltrating ductal (IDC) and lobular (ILC) carcinomas is clinically important because of the different pattern of systemic metastases and prognostic evaluation. E-cadherin is a potentially useful immunohistochemical marker which may serve to differentiate between the two tumour types. We therefore studied E-cadherin expression in 32 cases of breast carcinomas comprising 16 IDCs and 16 ILCs. The correlation between E-cadherin expression and the histological grade of IDCs was also analysed. Our results showed complete loss of E-cadherin expression in all ILCs, while the IDCs consistently showed variable E-cadherin positivity. No significant correlation was found between E- cadherin expression and the histological grade of IDCs. We conclude from this study that E-cadherin is a useful marker to differentiate between IDC and ILC of the breast. A larger study of IDCs is now needed to further evaluate the correlation between E-cadherin and tumour grade to estimate its prognostic potential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology,Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. nurismahmdisa@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Md Isa
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Nurismah
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Noriah
authors.forename: M Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Suryati
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Sharifah
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000032:analysis*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology*; D018275:Carcinoma, Lobular / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015820:Cadherins