DECREASED E-CADHERIN EXPRESSION IS ASSOCIATED WITH HEMATOGENOUS RECURRENCE AND POOR-PROGNOSIS IN PATIENTS WITH SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMA OF THE ESOPHAGUS

Reduced expression of E-cadherin is associated with tumour invasivenes s and metastasis. To elucidate whether E-cadherin expression correlate s with clinical outcome in patients with oesophageal cancer, 62 patien ts were investigated immunohistochemically using an anti-E-cadherin mo noclonal antibody (HECD-1). Eight patients had normal levels of expres sion in the tumour, 25 had tumours that expressed high levels (50 per cent or more tumour cells staining positive for E-cadherin) and 29 had tumours expressing low levels (less than 50 per cent of cells express ing E-cadherin). Patients with normally expressing tumours had a bette r prognosis at 3 years than those with low-expressing tumours (P < 0.0 5). Postoperative death was correlated significantly with lymphatic in vasion, lymph node metastasis, E-cadherin expression and depth of inva sion (P < 0.05). Furthermore, haematogenous recurrence was correlated with E-cadherin expression (r(S) = 0.38, P < 0.01) and blood vessel in vasion (r(S) = 0.28, P < 0.05). These results suggest that evaluation of E-cadherin immunoreactivity may predict haematogenous recurrence an d poor prognosis in patients with oesophageal cancer.