Objective: To study the clinical significance of E-cadherin (E-CD) expression in cervical cancer.
Methods: Specimens of 60 cervical cancer, 10 normal cervical epithelia and 12 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia(CIN) were examined for E-CD expression by immunohistochemical staining.
Results: E-CD was expressed in all of 10 specimens of normal cervical epithelia. Positive staining was seen in 66.7% of CIN, 46.7% of cervical cancer. In cervical cancer, the frequency of abnormal E-CD expression was correlated to pathologic grade, lymph node metastasis and clinical stage (P < 0.05). The higher the pathologic grade of tumor, the lower was the expression of E-CD. Negative E-CD expression was significantly more frequent in the advanced stage of cervical cancer with lymph node metastasis.
Conclusion: Decreased expression of E-CD is a useful parameter of cervical malignancy.