Expression of E-Cadherin and α-,β-,γ-Catenins in Patients With Bladder Cancer

Abstract

Loss of intercellular adhesion facilitates tumor invasion. To clarify the relation between altered expression of cell adhesion molecules and progression of T1 superficial bladder tumors, 101 cases (71 T1 tumors, 30 T2/T3 tumors) were examined immunohistochemically for E-cadherin and alpha-, beta-, and gamma-catenins. A highly significant correlation was observed between the decreased expression of all molecules and increased TNM stage (P < .001). Univariate analysis, performed in cases of T1 tumors, revealed association of abnormal E-cadherin with beta-catenin diminution. Survival curves were established with the Kaplan-Meier method and analyzed according to clinical and histopathologic parameters using the log-rank test. Cox multivariate analysis revealed only gamma-catenin as an independent predictor of progression-free survival in patients with stage T1 bladder urothelial tumors. The characterization of T1 tumors that will progress could lead to the identification of patients who might benefit from surgery to avoid vesical muscle invasion and, consequently, metastasis.

Prognostic role of decreased E-cadherin expression in patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma: a multi-institutional study

“…This was within the range previously reported in UCB patients (31–77 %) [8, 9] but lower than that reported in UTUC patients (68–71 %) [10, 11]. This could be due to our lower proportion of high stage tumors compared to the two other studies (50 vs. 54 and 61 %), as well as methodological differences in scoring, staining protocols, choice of antibody and/or antigen retrieval.…”

“…The role of E-cadherin expression as a prognostic factor in urothelial carcinoma was supported by previous studies mainly focusing on UCB [8, 9, 24–27]. Our results confirm that decreased E-cadherin expression is indeed associated with a higher probability of disease recurrence and cancer-specific mortality in UTUC.…”

“…In carcinoma in situ of the bladder, for example, loss of E-cadherin expression predicts RFS, disease progression and CSS [21]. Similar results were reported in various UCB studies [8, 9, 24–27] and one UTUC study [10]: loss of E-cadherin immunoreactivity strongly correlated with advanced stage and high-grade tumors.…”

“…In normal cells, E-cadherins’ cytoplasmic domain binds with subtypes β or γ of the catenin proteins, which in turn secure attachment to the actin microfilament, thus ensuring cytoskeleton integrity and stable cellular adhesion [8]. Loss of cellular adhesion is a tipping point in tumor progression resulting in poorly differentiated and invasive tumors [7, 8]. E-cadherin has been shown to be an independent prognostic factor in UCB [3, 9].…”

Prognostic Role of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Markers “E-Cadherin, β-Catenin, ZEB1, ZEB2 and p63” in Bladder Carcinoma

“…In this study, patients with TCC and SCC showed reduced E-cadherin expression in association with increased tumor grading, depth of invasion and LN metastasis. The TCC results are consistent with previous reports [31, 40, 41]. Similarly, current results are in line with that reported for SCC of non-bladder origin [42-46].…”