EXPRESSIONS OF E-CADHERIN AND EXON VG-CONTAINING ISOFORMS OF CD44 ANDTHEIR PROGNOSTIC VALUES IN HUMAN TRANSITIONAL-CELL CARCINOMA

Cell surface adhesion molecules, E-cadherin and exon v6 containing CD4 4 isoforms (CD44v6), were readily found in well-to-moderately differen tiated urothelial cell lines but were down-regulated in poorly differe ntiated cell lines. One hundred and fifteen tumors of transitional cel l carcinoma (TCC) were examined with E-cadherin and CD44v6 specific an tibodies. Sixty-five (56.5%) tumors exhibited a preserved type while 5 0 (43.5%) showed a reduced type for CD44v6. Sixty-seven (58.3%) tumors were classified as the preserved type, and 48 (41.7%) were classified as the reduced type for E-cadherin. The staining pattern of E-cadheri n was the same as that of CD44v6 in 87.0% (100 of 115) of tumors. The frequency of the reduced type was higher in poorly differentiated carc inomas (32 of 52 for CD44v6, p = 0.001; 27 of 52 for E-cadherin, p = 0 .112) and tumors with an invasive growth pattern (22 of 27 for CD44v6, p <0.001; 20 of 27 for E-cadherin, p <0.001) than it was in well-diff erentiated carcinomas and tumors with expansile growth. However, the a ssociation with lymph node involvement or distant metastasis did not r each statistical significance. There was no difference in survival in reference to the expression patterns of CD44v6 and E-cadherin. Further more, neither marker was a significant prognostic factor for tumor rec urrence and survival according to Cox's multiple variant regression an alysis.