Expression of E-cadherin and β-catenin and their significance in non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

肿瘤的浸润和转移严重威胁着人类生命,正确认识和评估肿瘤的生物学行为有重要的临床意义。上皮性钙黏附蛋白（E-cad）和β-连环素（β-cat）的异常表达在肿瘤浸润转移过程中发挥着重要作用。本研究的目的是探讨它们在非小细胞肺癌中的表达及其与非小细胞肺癌分型、分化、转移和预后的关系。方法 采用免疫组织化学（SP）法,检测129例非小细胞肺癌组织中E-cad及β-cat的表达。结果 E-cad及β-cat在非小细胞肺癌组织中的异常表达率分别为62.0%和65.1%。E-cad在鳞癌中的异常表达率显著高于腺癌（P < 0.05）;E-cad及β-cat在低分化非小细胞肺癌中的异常表达率显著高于中高分化肺癌（P均 < 0.05）;E-cad及β-cat在Ⅲ、Ⅳ期非小细胞肺癌中的异常表达率显著高于Ⅰ、Ⅱ期（P均 < 0.01）;伴有淋巴结转移的非小细胞肺癌中E-cad及β-cat异常表达率显著高于不伴有淋巴结转移者（P < 0.05,P < 0.01）。E-cad及β-cat正常表达的肺癌患者5年生存率显著高于异常表达的肺癌患者（P < 0.05,P < 0.01）。结论 E-cad及β-cat的异常表达与非小细胞肺癌分化、分期、转移密切相关。检测它们的表达对预测患者预后有重要意义。

Background and objective Because invasion and metastasis of cancer threaten seriously human’s life, it is of more important clinical significance to understand and evaluate the biologic behavior of can-（cer） correctly. Abnormal expression of E-cadherin and β-catenin plays important roles in invasion and metastasis of cancer. The objective of this study is to investigate their expression in non-small cell lung cancer （NSCLC） and to find out their correlation with histological type, cell differentiation, metastasis and prognosis of NSCLC. Methods The expression of E-cadherin and β-catenin was detected in 129 NSCLC tissues by high sensitive S-P immunohistochemical method. Results The abnormal expression rate of E-cadherin and β-catenin was 62.0% and 65.1% respectively. The abnormal expression rate of E-cadherin in squamous cell carcinoma was much higher than that in adenocarcinoma （P < 0.05）. The abnormal expression rate of E-cadherin and β-catenin in poorly differentiated cells was significantly higher than that in well and moderately differentiated cells （P < 0.05, P < 0.05）. Stage Ⅲ/Ⅳ NSCLC showed markedly higher abnormal expression rate of E-cadherin and β-catenin than stage Ⅰ/Ⅱ NSCLC did （P < 0.01, P < 0.01）. The abnormal expression rate of E-cadherin and β-catenin in patients with lymphatic metastasis was significantly higher than that in those without lymphatic metastasis （P < 0.05, P < 0.01）. The mean survival duration and 5-year survival rate in patients with normal E-cadherin and β-catenin expression were remarkably higher than those in patients with abnormal expression （P < 0.05, P < 0.01）. Conclusion The abnormal expression of E-cadherin and β-catenin is closely related to histological type, differentiation and metastasis in NSCLC. Detection of their expression might be helpful to predict prognosis of NSCLC.