Expression and prognostic value of E-cadherin in non-small cell lung cancer

Objective To investigate the expression of epithelial-cadherin(E-cadherin) in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) and the association between E-cadherin and prognosis. Methods E-cadherin in 80 cases of NSCLC tissues and 10 cases of benign pulmonary disease were tested by immunohistochemistry(IHC) assay. Results The positive rate of E-cadherin was 33.75%(27/80) in NSCLC,lower than 80.0% in benign pulmonary samples(8/10) with statistic significance(P=0.012).The expression of E-cadherin was negatively linked to the lymph node metastasis(P=0.030).E-cadherin was not correlated with age,gender,pathologic types,smoking,differentiation and the size of tumors.The expression of E-cadherin was significantly correlated with the overall survival(OS) of NSCLC(P=0.018).The median OS of patients with E-cadherin positive expression was 44.9 months,while that of the negative expression was 31.5months with significant difference(P=0.003). Conclusion E-cadherin plays a vital role in the lymph node metastasis of NSCLC,and is correlated with prognosis.