1997 Volume 43 Issue 1 Pages 8-15
We immunohistochemically studied the relationship between E-cadherin expression and prognosis in 72 patients with primary oral squamous cell carcinoma.
E-cadherin is expressed homogeneously with a typical membranous staining pattern at cell-cell borders in normal oral epithelium. Twenty-three of the 72 tumors studied had decreased (or lost) E-cadherin expression. Decreased (or lost) expression of E-cadherin closely correlated with the cancer differentiation grade and with clinical lymph node metastasis. Moreover, decreased (or lost) E-cadherin expression correlated with shorter patient survival. However, E-cadherin expression did not correlate with T category or clinical stage.
Determination of E-cadherin expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma is therefore expected to provide useful information with regard to prognosis.