Expression of E-Cadherin in breast carcinomas and its association with other biological markers - a prospective study.

CONTEXT: E-cadherin (E-CD) is an important cell adhesion molecule in normal epithelial cells and has been shown to be an invasion tumor suppressor gene.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Various clinicopathological parameters like age, family history, tumor stage, histological grade, lymph node status and other biological markers were also analyzed. Present study reveals E-CD expression in 65 cases of breast cancer including 41 (63%) cases of pure infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC), 11 (16.9%) of pure infiltrating lobular carcinoma (ILC); another 10 (15.3%) of mixed ductal/lobular type, and remaining 3 (4.6%) miscellaneous types.
RESULTS: Negative E-CD expression was noticed more in advancing age groups (P = 0.01). About 59.2% cases showing negative E-CD expression had family history of breast and/or other cancers. E-CD expression was found significantly higher in cases of pure IDC (55.5%) than in pure ILC cases (18.1%) (P = 0.04). Eleven (68.7%) of the total 16 high-grade IDC cases, revealed negative expression. Both cases of comedo carcinoma revealed negative expression. Three (30%) out of 10 mixed cases revealed negative expression in both ductal and lobular areas, while in remaining 7 cases, positvity was seen in ductal areas only. Invasive cribriform and medullary carcinoma revealed a stronger expression, while negative staining was observed in sweat gland carcinoma. E-CD re-expression was noticed in lymph node tumor deposits. A direct association of E-CD expression with ER expression and an inverse association with that of p53 were also observed (P = 0.001), (P = 0.04).
CONCLUSIONS: E-CD expression is useful, but limited, in differentiating IDCs from ILCS. Its negative expression correlates with certain poor prognostic parameters reflecting its use as a marker for invasive cancers. It re-expresses at metastatic sites.