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Differential expression of E‐cadherin in metastatic lesionscomparing to primary oral squamous cell carcinoma

2006; Wiley; Volume: 35; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1600-0714.2006.00474.x

1600-0714

Kuo-Chun Hung, Chang Cs, Cong Liu, M.‐T. Lui, Ching‐Yu Cheng, S.‐Y. Kao,

Kruppel-like factors research

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. Method: 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. Conclusion: 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.