Biological Implication of the Expression of E-cadherin in Gastric Carcinoma and Its Lymph Node Metastasis

Objective:To investigate the associations of the expression level of E-cadherin with the clinicopathological features of gastric carcinomas.Methods:The expression level of E-cadherin in 80 cases of gastric carcinomas and their metastaic lymph node tissues were examined by immunohistochemical assays.Results:The expression rate of E-cadherin in 80 cases of gastric carcinomas was 55.00%.The expression level of E-cadherin was positively correlated with the Lauren classification,the degree of histological differentiation,the clinical stage,the depth of invasion,lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis(P0.05),but was not correlated to patient's sex, age and tumor size.The expression rates of E-cadherin in metastatic gastric carcinoma of primary lesions and lymph nodes metastasis were 35.48% and 32.26%,respectively.Furthermore,E-cadherin expression in metastatic gastric carcinoma was significantly correlated with primary lesions and lymph nodes metastasis(Pearson correlation coefficient R=0.4978,P0.05).Conclusion:The expression level of E-cadherin in gastric carcinoma was closely correlated with the degree of tumor differentiation,infiltration and transferring.