Expression patterns of the novel catenin p120cas in gastrointestinal cancers

p120cas is involved in signal transduction upon src or growth factor stimul ation as well as in E-cadherin mediated cell adhesion and may play an impor tant role in carcinogenesis. In this study, we evaluated immunohistochemica lly the expression and cellular localization of p120cas in 40 gastric, 43 c olorectal and 20 pancreatic carcinomas, and examined the relationship betwe en p120cas expression and pathological features. Altered p120cas expression was observed in 70%, 65% and 60% of gastric, colorectal and pancreatic can cers, respectively. The most common abnormality was of cytoplasmic expressi on associated with loss of membranous distribution found in 37% of gastric, in 25% of colorectal and in 25% of pancreatic cancels. Heterogeneous stain ing was noted in 15%, 19% and 20%, and complete loss of expression in 18%, 21% and 15% of gastric, color ectal and pancreatic cancers, respectively. T here was no correlation between p120cas staining pattern and tumour grade o r stage. Aberrant expression of p120cas which may reflect changes in signal transduction pathways occurs frequently in human malignancies.