E-cadherin与炎性乳腺癌关系的研究进展

Research Progress on Relationship between E-Cadherin and Inflammatory Breast Cancer

细胞粘附分子是一类介导细胞与细胞、细胞与细胞外基质之间粘附作用的糖蛋白,在肿瘤的发生、发展、侵袭和转移中起着重要作用。存在于成人上皮细胞的上皮细胞钙粘蛋白(E-cadherin/E-cad)是钙粘蛋白家族的主要成员之一,也一种重要的细胞粘附分子,其主要作用是参与形成和维护正常细胞间的连接,与细胞的生长、分化、迁移、信息传递和稳定以及创伤的修复过程有关。E-cadherin也被认为是一种肿瘤抑制基因,与多种上皮恶性肿瘤的分化、侵袭、转移和预后相关,其表达下调在乳腺癌中是一种普遍现象,与乳腺癌的分化程度、淋巴结转移及预后均密切相关。炎性乳腺癌是一种高度恶性的局部晚期特殊类型的乳腺癌,患者大多死于局部组织侵袭和远处转移。研究表明,E-cadherin在炎性乳腺癌组织或细胞系中却呈与功能一致的强阳性表达,与炎性乳腺癌的浸润和转移过程密切相关。本文综述了E-cadherin与炎性乳腺癌关系的最新研究进展。

Cell adhesion molecule is a kind of glycoprotein, which mediates the adhesive interactions between cells and extracellular matrix and plays an important role in the oncogenesis, development, invasion and metastasis of tumors. Epithelialcadherin（E-cad） is a major member of cadherin family that exists in adult epithelial cells, and also an important kind of cell adhesion molecule. It is mainly involved in the formation and maintainance of normal cell junctions and associated with growth, differentiation, migration, information transfer as well as healing of wounds. E-cadherin is also considered as a kind of tumor suppressor gene which is associated with the differentiation, invasion, metastasis and prognosis of epitheliogenic malignant tumors. Downregulation of the expression of E-cadherin is common and related with degrees of differentiation, lymph node metastasis and prognosis of breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer （IBC） is a special kind of highly malignant and locally advanced breast cancer, and patients with IBC mainly die of local invasion and metastasis. It has been proved that both IBC tumor and cell lines strongly express E-cadherin, which are in accordance with its function and associated with the invasion and metastasis of IBC. This article is aimed to review the research progress on relationship between e-cadherin and inflammatory breast cancer.