Y. Yonemura et al., DECREASED E-CADHERIN EXPRESSION CORRELATES WITH POOR SURVIVAL IN PATIENTS WITH GASTRIC-CANCER, Analytical cellular pathology, 8(2), 1995, pp. 177-190
E-cadherin, Ca2+-dependent intracellular adhesion molecule, is known t
o be an invasion suppressor gene, To elucidate the correlation between
E-cadherin expression and invasion or metastasis in gastric cancer, w
e examined E-cadherin tissue status immunohistochemically. Ninety-eigh
t primary gastric cancer, prepared by AMeX method, were retrospectivel
y analyzed with anti-E-cadherin monoclonal antibody. In normal gastric
epithelium, E-cadherin is expressed homogeneously with a typical memb
ranous staining at cell-cell borders. Decreased and heterogeneous expr
ession is found in 70 of 98 rumours. Tumours with decreased E-cadherin
expression had a tendency to infiltrate more deeply in stomach wall,
and metastasize in lymph nodes or peritoneal surface, More importantly
, decreased E-cadherin expression correlates with shorter survival (z
= 3.98, P = 0.00086). These results may indicate that E-cadherin tissu
e status is a powerful prognostic indicator in gastric cancer. The hig
h malignant potential of rumours with decreased E-cadherin expression
may be associated with high potential of lymph node metastasis and per
itoneal dissemination.