Expression of E-cadherin and its Associated Protein α and β-catenin and Their Signification in Human Gastric Carcinoma

Objective To investigate E-cadherin and its associated protein α-catenin and β-catenin expression and their significances in gastric carcinoma.Methods Immunohistochemical S-P method was used in 60 cases of gastric carcinoma for detection of E-cadherin and catenin.Results Up to 83.5%(50/60) of the gastric carcinomas were stained abnormally with one or more components of the E-cadherin/catenin complex.The abnormal expression of E-cadherin and α-catenin,but not β-catenin were correlated with the depth of cancer invasion and Lauren′s classfication in gastric carcinoma(P0.01),there was no relation between lymph rode metastasis and their expression(P0.05),whereas the abnormal expression of β-catenin was related with lymph rode metastasis(P0.05).The patients with normal expression of E-cadherin and β- catenin had a far more better surveval than those negative cases.Conclusion Abnormal expression of E-cadherin and its associated protein catenins occur frequently in gastric carcinoma.The correlation with different clinicopathologic feature suggests that E-cadherin,α-catenin and β- catenin may be useful markers for assessing biological characteristics of gastric cancer.