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The Prognostic Significance of E-Cadherin and Liver Intestine-Cadherin Expression in Colorectal Cancer

  • Original Contributions
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Diseases of the Colon & Rectum

Abstract

Purpose

The significance of liver intestine-cadherin as a potential marker has been growing in the field of oncology, because of its unique features compared with classic cadherins. We investigated the coexpression patterns of E-cadherin and liver intestine-cadherin in colorectal cancer, and determined whether differences in expression patterns were associated with clinicopathologic parameters and also which relationship between these two adhesion molecules existed in colorectal cancer.

Methods

Expression pattern of E-cadherin and liver intestine-cadherin was investigated immunohistochemically in 207 colorectal cancers along with clinicopathologic parameters.

Results

Reduced expression of liver intestine-cadherin was detected in 51 percent (n--05) of tumors. Such expression was found to be associated with tumoral dedifferentiation (P--.015) and in a multivariate analysis was associated with a significant worse overall survival after adjustment for tumor stage, differentiation, and E-cadherin status (hazard ratio, 1.951; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.06-.592; P--.032). Fifteen percent (n--2) of tumors showed reduced expression of E-cadherin and had relationship with tumoral dedifferentiation (P-lt;-.001), lymph node metastasis (P--.004), and advanced stage (P--.029). Reduced expression of E-cadherin was associated with short overall survival (P--.028); however, in a multivariate analysis, it was not statistically significant.

Conclusions

Reduced expression of liver intestine-cadherin had a significant correlation with tumoral dedifferentiation and short overall survival in this series. In addition, early and frequent loss of liver intestine-cadherin expression might be a more sensitive indicator than E-cadherin to predict more aggressive tumoral behavior.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

    Jung-Myun Kwak M.D., Byung-Wook Min M.D., Ph.D., Sun-Il Lee M.D., Sung-Soo Park M.D., Ph.D., Jin Kim M.D., Ph.D., Jun-Won Um M.D., Ph.D., Seon-Han Kim M.D., Ph.D. & Hong-Young Moon M.D., Ph.D.

  2. Department of Pathology, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

    Ju-Han Lee M.D., Ph.D. & Jong-Sang Choi M.D., Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Jung-Myun Kwak M.D.
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  2. Byung-Wook Min M.D., Ph.D.
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  3. Ju-Han Lee M.D., Ph.D.
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  4. Jong-Sang Choi M.D., Ph.D.
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  5. Sun-Il Lee M.D.
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  6. Sung-Soo Park M.D., Ph.D.
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  7. Jin Kim M.D., Ph.D.
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  8. Jun-Won Um M.D., Ph.D.
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  10. Hong-Young Moon M.D., Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Byung-Wook Min M.D., Ph.D..

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Cite this article

Kwak, JM., Min, BW., Lee, JH. et al. The Prognostic Significance of E-Cadherin and Liver Intestine-Cadherin Expression in Colorectal Cancer. Dis Colon Rectum 50, 1873–1880 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10350-007-9034-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10350-007-9034-1

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