Relationship between Eª²cadherin expression and clinicopathologic properties of esophageal carcinoma

    WU Jing, GAO Mingª²Tai, ZHOU Yongª²Ning, HAN Biao, LIU Jian, KOU Wei, JI Rui, LU Hong

    1Department of Gastroenterology, 2Department of Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital, Lanzhou University, 3Department of Internal Medicine, Medical College of Northwest University for Nationalities, Lanzhou 730000, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To explore the expression of Eª²cadherin(Eª²cad)in esophageal carcinoma and its relation to clinicopathological features and patient¬ðs survival. METHODS: The expression of Eª²cad in esophageal carcinoma was detected by immunohistochemical technique and its relationship to clinicopathological features and patient's survival was analyzed. RESULTS: The expression of Eª²cad was significantly higher in esophageal carcinoma tissue than that in normal mucosa (34/67 vs 6/31, P<0.01). Eª²cad abnormal expression was significantly correlated with the tumor differentiation, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis and survival in 67 cases of esophageal carcinoma(P<0.05) but its relationship to age and gender of patient, and the size, location and gross appearance of tumor was not found (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The abnormal expression of Eª²cad in esophageal carcinoma may be associated with the carcinogenesis. Eª²cad can be used as a important marker for predicting the metastasis potential of esophageal carcinoma and the prognosis. ......