[Expression of Ezrin and E-cadherin in invasive ductal breast cancer and their correlations to lymphatic metastasis].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Ezrin, a cytoskeleton linker protein, is actively involved in regulating the growth and metastasis of cancer cells. This study was performed to detect the expression of Ezrin and E-cadherin in primary invasive ductal breast cancer in order to evaluate their possible roles in lymphatic metastasis. METHODS: The expression of Ezrin and E-cadherin in 60 specimens of primary invasive ductal breast cancer (23 with metastasis, 37 without metastasis) was detected by SP immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: The abnormal expression rates of Ezrin and E-cadherin were significantly higher in the cases with metastasis than in the cases without metastasis (73.91% vs. 51.35%, P=0.039; 65.22% vs. 40.54%, P<0.001). The abnormal expression of Ezrin was positively correlated to that of E-cadherin (r=0.898, P=0.038). CONCLUSION: Ezrin and E-cadherin are closely related to invasion and metastasis of ductal breast cancer, suggesting that they are important tumor markers in predicting lymphatic metastasis of invasive ductal breast cancer.