Expression and clinical significance of EpCAM and β-catenin pathway in colon cancer

Objective To investigate the expressions and clinical pathological significance of EpCAM and the β-catenin pathway in colon cancer, and the correlation between EpCAM andβ-catenin. Methods Immunohistochemistry was used to detecte the expressions of EpCAM and β-catenin proteins in colon cancer tissues and corresponding adjacent tissues of 70 cases of colon cancer patients , the clinical and pathological features of colon cancer and their relationship were retrospective analyzed. Results ①EpCAM and β-catenin protein expressions in colon cancer tissue was 52 cases （74.3%） and 55 （78.6%） positive respectively; EpCAM and β-catenin proteins in cancer adjacent tissues in 13 cases（ 15.7% ） and 9 cases （12.9%） were positive, the differences were statistically significant. ②the EpCAM expression is positively correlated with the β-catenin expression （ r = 0.616, P 〈 0.01 ）. ③The expressions of EpCAM and β-catenin correlated with the tumor differentiation, invasion depth, lymph node metastasis and TNM staging related （P 〈 0.05）. Conclusion EpCAM and β-catenin pathways in colon cancer positively correlate, and closely correlate with colon cancer. The expression level of EpCAM and β-catenin can be used as a reference for the colon disease course and healing. Key words: Colonic neoplasms;  Cell adhesion molecules;  Cadherins