Abstract
Membranous expression of E-cadherin and catenins were evaluated in f ormalin fixed, paraffin embedded biopsied specimens from a series of 135 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the oral cavity by immunohistochemical methods using monoclonal antibodies. Loss of normal membranous E-cadherin, α-, β- and γ-catenins expression was found in 55%, 66%, 61%, and 59% of the tumors, respectively. Univariate analysis revealed that aberrant membranous expression of E-cadherin and α-, β-, and γ-catenins correlated significantly with type of growth (P=0.007, =0.001, =0.0002, and =0.001, respectively), mode of invasion (P=0.014, =0.01, =0.003, and =0.02, respectively), clinicopathological malignancy grading (P=0.002, =0.003, =0.0001, and =0.002, respectively), and pathologically proven lymph node metastasis (P<0.0001, <0.0001, <0.0001, and <0.0001, respectively) . Moreover, survival estimates differed significantly for preserved and reduced expression of E-cadherin (P0.01), α-catenin (P=0.01), β-catenin (P = 0.0006), and γ-catenin (P0.006) . = Regarding to predict tumor metastasis and survial, however, multivariate analyses demonstrated that evaluations of N category and TNM stage were more clinically useful than that of immunohistochemical detection of E-cadherin and catenins. However, when investigation was carried out in stage I and h oral SCC, a siginif icant correlation was observed between reduced expression of E-cadherin and catenins, but not clinicopathological variables, with lymph node metastasis. The immunohistochemical detection of E-cadherin and catenins is clinically useful, especially for selecting patients who may develop lymph node metastasis in early stage oral SCC.
