Significance of E-cadherin, β-catenin, and vimentin expression as postoperative prognosis indicators in cervical squamous cell carcinoma.
Although early-stage cervical cancer can be treated by surgery, distant metastases can be life threatening. It has been a challenge to identify reliable biomarkers as indicators of metastasis or poor prognosis. We investigated the prognostic impact of vimentin, E-cadherin, and β-catenin expression measured by immunohistochemistry staining in samples from 135 patients with clinical stage I or II cervical squamous cell cancer and in normal cervical tissues from 55 patients who underwent hysterectomy for reasons other than neoplasia. Down-regulation of E-cadherin and β-catenin was positively related to histologic differentiation (P < .001), metastasis (P < .001), and recurrence (P < .001), whereas up-regulation of vimentin was inversely related to histologic differentiation, metastasis, and recurrence (P < .0001, .020, and .000, respectively). In univariate Cox regression analysis, high expression of E-cadherin or β-catenin was a positive prognostic indicator for overall survival (P < .001 and P < .001, respectively), whereas high expression of vimentin was a negative indicator (P < .001). In multivariate Cox regression analysis, high expression of E-cadherin was a positive prognostic indicator for overall survival (P = .002), whereas high expression of vimentin was a negative indicator (P = .034). The expression of E-cadherin and vimentin was associated with survival, and the 2 proteins were independent prognostic factors in univariate and multivariate analyses. The combination of a decrease of E-cadherin and an increase in vimentin might be a valuable survival indictor in cervical squamous cell cancer.
Department of Oncological Radiotherapy, Anhui Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230001, China.
Yong
Y
Cheng
Ying
Y
Zhou
Wenjing
W
Jiang
Xia
X
Yang
Jing
J
Zhu
Dingqing
D
Feng
Ying
Y
Wei
Min
M
Li
Fengqiu
F
Yao
Weiping
W
Hu
Weihua
W
Xiao
Bin
B
Ling
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D014746:Vimentin / Q000378:metabolism*; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000378:metabolism*
D015820:Cadherins; D014746:Vimentin; D051176:beta Catenin