摘要
AIM: To elucidate the expression of E-cadherin and β-catenincorrelating with its clinical outcome in patients withesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), by analyzingtheir interrelationship with clinicopathological variables andtheir effects on progress and prognosis.METHODS: Expression of E-cadherin and β-catenin wasdetermined by SP immunohistochemical technique inpatients with ESCC consecutively, their correlation withclinical characteristics was evaluated and analyzed bymultivariate analysis.RESULTS: The rate of expression of E-cadherin decreasedto 66.03 % (70/106) in ESCC and the protein level wasnegative correlated with histologic grade, tumor size, clinicalstaging, lymph node metastasis and venous invasion.Whereas the expression rate of β-catenin was reduced to69.8 % (74/106) and the level of protein expressioncorrelated only with histologic grade. There obviously existedinverse correlation between level of E-cadherin protein andsurvival, especially in .stage I, IIa, IIb (P=0.0033), Patientswith low-expressing tumors for β-catenin and non-expressingtumors for E-cadherin/β-catenin had lower survival periodthan those with normal-expressing ones (P=0.0501 andP=0.0080, respectively). Patients with diminished expressionof E-cadherin as grade Ⅱ or Ⅲ had shorter survival periodthan those with normally expressing and grade Ⅰ, nosignificance existed between grade I and grade Ⅱ or Ⅲwith respect to different status of E-cadherin expression.Furthermore, Correlation analysis showed level of E-cadherincorrelated with that of β-catenin (P=0.005). Cox proportionalhazards model analysis suggested downregulation of E-cadherin was an important factor indicating poor prognosis.CONCLUSION: As a probable independent prognosticfactor, it correlates with overall and disease free survivalperiod, expression of E-cadherin but not β-catenin maypredict prognosis in patients with ESCC.
AIM:To elucidate the expression of E-cadherin and β-catenin correlating with its clinical outcome in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC),by analyzing their interrelationship with clinicopathological variables and their effects on progress and prognosis. METHODS:Expression of E-cadherin and β-catenin was determined by SP immunohistochemical technique in patients with ESCC consecutively,their correlation with clinical characteristics was evaluated and analyzed by multivariate analysis. RESULTS:The rate of expression of E-cadherin decreased to 66.03 %(70/106)in ESCC and the protein level was negative correlated with histologic grade,tumor size,clinical staging,lymph node metastasis and venous invasion. Whereas the expression rate of β-catenin was reduced to 69.8 %(74/106)and the level of protein expression correlated only with histologic grade.There obviously existed inverse correlation between level of E-cadherin protein and survival,especially in stage Ⅰ,Ⅱa,Ⅱb(P=0.0033),Patients with low-expressing tumors for β-catenin and non-expressing tumors for E-cadherin/β-catenin had lower survival period than those with normal-expressing ones(P=0.0501 and P=0.0080,respectively).Patients with diminished expression of E-cadherin as grade Ⅱ or Ⅲ had shorter survival period than those with normally expressing and grade Ⅰ,no significance existed between grade Ⅰ and grade Ⅱ or Ⅲ with respect to different status of E-cadherin expression. Furthermore,Correlation analysis showed level of E-cadherin correlated with that of β-catenin(P=0.005).Cox proportional hazards model analysis suggested downregulation of E- cadherin was an important factor indicating poor prognosis. CONCLUSION:As a probable independent prognostic factor,it correlates with overall and disease free survival period,expression of E-cadherin but not β-catenin may predict prognosis in patients with ESCC.