Objective: To determine the association between E-cadherin expression and hormone receptors status in patients with breast cancer.
Study design: Cross-sectional study.
Place and duration of study: Department of Medical Oncology, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, Pakistan, from March to December 2019.
Methodology: Two hundred and forty-eight women, aged 18-65 years with histologically proven diagnosis of breast carcinoma, were included in the study. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining was performed for the evaluation of E-Cadherin expression and status of hormonal receptors [Estrogen receptor (ER), Progesterone receptor (PR) and HER-2-neu]. The positive homogeneous pattern of staining for the cellular membranes is considered normal. The non-homogeneous or the heterogeneous pattern of the cytoplasm and membrane, represented aberrant E-cadherin expression (loss of E-cadherin expression). SPSS version 23 was used to analyse data.
Results: The results of IHC showed that 82.7% of the tumours were E-cadherin positive, 65.7% were ER positive, 62.9% were PR positive and 29.4% were HER 2 positive. A normal pattern of immunostaining of E-cadherin for the membranes is seen in hormone receptor positive and young patients with low grade tumour. Aberrant E-cadherin expression (loss of E-Cadherin)was noticed in HER 2 negative, postmenopausal women with high grade large size tumour(p<0.05).
Conclusion: The study showed that there is significant association between E-cadherin expression and hormone receptor status, HER2-neu, menopausal status, age of patients, grade of tumour and size of tumour. Key Words: E-cadherin, Hormone receptors, Breast carcinoma, ER, PR and HER 2.