Significance and Expression of CD44v5,CD44v6, and E-cadherin in Patientswith Gastric Carcinomas and Their Lymph-Node Metastases

Objective: To investigate the significance and the expression of CD44v5,CD44v6, and epithelial cadherin (E-cd) in gastric primary carcinomas and metastatic lymphnodes . Methods: Immunohistochemical method was used to examine CD44v5, CD44v6, and E-cd expression in 20 normal gastric mucosa tissues, 20 gastric epithelial dysplasia, 185 gastric adenocarcinomas, and 117 metastatic adenocarcinoma lymph nodes. Results: The positive expression rates of CD44v5, CD44v6, and E-cd in gastric epithelial dysplasia were 10.0%(2/20), 20.0%(4/20),and 85.0%(17/20), respectively. In gastric primary adenocarcinomas and metastatic lymphnodes,expression rates were 43.8%(84/185), 66.5%(123/185), and 53.0%(98/185); and 71.8%(84/117), 87.2%(102/117), and 26.5%( 31/117), respectively. There was significant difference among the three groups (P 0.01). The positive expression of CD44v5 was closely correlated with differentiation, histological type, TNM categories,lymph node involvement, and the presence of blood, and lymphatic vessel invasion, whereas such a correlation could not be found for the CD44v6. The positive expression of E-cd was closely correlated with differentiation, histological type, and(TNM) categories. In early gastric carcinomas, the expression of CD44v6 in intestinal-type was much higher than that of diffuse-type(P 0.05) . The expressions of CD44v5 was closely linked to diffuse-type advanced gastric carcinomas. The expression reduction of E-cd was closely related to diffuse-type early and advanced gastric carcinomas. Conclusion: CD44v5, CD44v6, and E-cd might be the valuable markers in assessing biological behavior, invasion, and metastatic potential of gastric carcinomas. The results also support the hypothesis of different origins for the two tumor types.