EXPRESSION OF E-CADHERIN AND ${\beta}-CATENIN$ IN RELATION TO CLINICOPATHOLOGIC FEATURES IN ORAL SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA

구강 편평세포암종에서 E-cadherin과 ${\beta}-catenin$의 발현과 임상병리학적 특징

  • Pyo, Sung-Woon (Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea) ;
  • Lee, Kwang-Bae (Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea) ;
  • Kim, Young-Sill (Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Cheju National University) ;
  • Lee, Sang-Hwa (Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea)
  • 표성운 (가톨릭대학교 의과대학 치과학교실 구강악안면외과) ;
  • 이광배 (가톨릭대학교 의과대학 치과학교실 구강악안면외과) ;
  • 김영실 (제주대학교 의과대학 병리학교실) ;
  • 이상화 (가톨릭대학교 의과대학 치과학교실 구강악안면외과)
  • Published : 2006.09.30

Abstract

Changes in cell adhesion molecules are associated with infiltration and metastatic progression of cancer. Reduced expression of E-cadherin and ${\beta}-catenin$ complex in some carcinomas has been reported. The changes in the expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is not fully understood and it also remains undetermined whether the expression of these adhesion molecules in metastatic lesions differs from that in the primary lesions. In the present study, therefore, we immunohistochemically examined the expression of E-cadherin and ${\beta}-catenin$ in 45 primary OSCCs and 19 metastatic lymph nodes. We compared the expression of these molecules between primary and metastatic lesions and investigated the correlation between the expression and clinicopathologic parameters. The expression of E-cadherin and ${\beta}-catenin$ was reduced in 35/45 (78.2%), 14/45 (31.2%) of primary tumors respectively, but 18/19 (94.7%) and 17/19 (89.4%) of lymph nodes showed preserved expression. The reduced expression of the E-cadherin was associated with lymph node metastasis, invasive mode and marginal status but no significant relationship was not found with ${\beta}-catenin$. In conclusion, the loss of E-cadherin and ${\beta}-catenin$ complex function is associated with progression of OSCC and suggest that the expression of this complex will be a supplementary prognostic tool.

Keywords

References

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