Prognostic significance of E-cadherin expression in human colorectal cancer tissue.

The expression of E-cadherin was determined by immunohistochemical staining in tumor tissue and in adjacent normal mucosae taken from 100 resected specimens of colorectal carcinomas. The expression of E-cadherin was preserved in all normal mucosae, but in the tumor tissue specimens it was preserved in 43, heterogeneous in 32, and lost in 25 samples. The lost or heterogeneous expression of E-cadherin correlated closely to the following: an advanced clinical stage of colorectal cancer, advanced tumor penetration, undifferentiated tumor histology, widespread lymph node involvement, liver metastasis, and permeation into the lymphatic and venous channels. The lost or heterogeneous expression of E-cadherin in tumor tissue was also significantly associated with an increased incidence of tumor recurrence after apparently curative resection, a reduced overall survival rate, and a reduced disease-free patient survival rate. A multivariate analysis disclosed that the expression of E-cadherin in tumor tissue was a significant prognostic variable independent of other clinicopathological features.