Premium
Altered E‐cadherin/ β ‐catenin expression in oral squamous carcinoma with and without nodal metastasis
Author(s) -
Mahomed F,
Altini M,
Meer S
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
oral diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.953
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1601-0825
pISSN - 1354-523X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1601-0825.2006.01295.x
Subject(s) - cadherin , grading (engineering) , nodal , immunohistochemistry , catenin , metastasis , pathology , medicine , basal cell , cell , biology , cancer , gene , wnt signaling pathway , ecology , biochemistry , genetics
Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the potential use of E‐cadherin, a tumour‐suppressor gene product involved in establishing cell–cell adhesion and one of its associated proteins, β ‐catenin, as markers of nodal metastasis in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Materials and methods: Thirty invasive OSCCs in patients with ( n = 19) and without ( n = 11) nodal metastases, as confirmed on histopathologic examination of the resected regional lymph nodes ( n = 30), were examined for E‐cadherin and β ‐catenin expression by immunohistochemistry. Results: There was a highly significant association ( P < 0.0001) between E‐cadherin and β ‐catenin expression and tumour differentiation by conventional Broders’ grading of the whole tumour. Irrespective of the nodal status and invasive tumour front (ITF) grading score, however, loss of expression was recorded at the ITF in 28 (93%) of 30 tumours and 22 (73%) of 30 tumours stained for E‐cadherin and β ‐catenin respectively. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest an association between loss of expression of E‐cadherin and β ‐catenin and a lower degree of differentiation; however, their use as markers of nodal metastasis in OSCC appears unreliable.