Immunohistochemical Examination of E-Cadherin in the Head and Neck Squamocellular Carcinomas

E-cadherin is present in the epithelial cells and its aberrant expression is correlated with different kinds of head and neck squamocellular carcinomas. The purpose of the present study was to identify the expression particularities of analyzed E-cadherin in rapport with the localization and the differentiation of various head and neck squamocellular carcinomas. 18 biopsy fragments obtained by squamocellular carcinoma patients (larynx, pharynx, hard palate, tongue, submandibular, lip, gingival sulcus, nasal pyramid, maxillary, zygomatic) were processed by immunohistochemical staining. Immunoreactions for E-cadherin in the tumoral cells were examined according to the score: 0 (0% positive cells of specimen);1 (30% of specimen). The immunohistochemical staining indicated the presence of 12 cases of well-differentiated squamocellular carcinoma (7 cases with score 3, 3 cases with score 2 and 1 case with score 1). Moderately-differentiated carcinomas were observed in the 3 cases (2 with score 2 and 1 with score 1). The poorly-differentiated histopathological type was present in 3 cases (all with score 1). Three types of E-cadherin distribution patterns were found: cytoplasmatic;cytoplasmatic and membranar;membranar. The presence of maximum score (value 3) of E-cadherin was found in well-differentiated squamocellular carcinomas of laryngeal, tongue, lip, nasal pyramid, and zygomatic area origin. A lower value of the score was present in the less differentiated histopathological type.