Differential expression of E-cadherin in metastatic lesions comparing to primary oral squamous cell carcinoma

The main cause of treatment failure in resectable oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is metastasis. E-cadherin (E-cad) plays a principal role in cell adhesion and motility, and is associated with OSCC progression. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of E-cad expression in OSCC with lymph node metastasis which had radical neck dissection done.

Immunohistochemistry was used to detect E-cad expression in normal oral mucosa (NOM) (n = 10), oral precancerous lesions (OPLs) (n = 20), primary OSCC (n = 45), and their paired metastatic lesions (n = 45). E-cad immunoreactivity correlated with the clinicopathologic features.

E-cadherin immunoreactivity was progressively reduced in the NOM followed by OPLs and primary OSCC (58%). It decreased significantly in the advanced stages of OSCC. However, the increase in E-cad immunoreactivity was observed in the majority (60%) of metastatic lesions in relation to primary OSCC. Patients with such increased or positive immunoreactivity of E-cad in metastatic lesions exhibited worse prognosis.

The findings suggested a dynamic change in E-cad immunoreactivity during tumorigenesis and metastasis of OSCC. In a multivariate analysis, E-cad immunoreactivity in metastasis lesions (odds ratio 3.74, 95% CI 1.15-14.67; P = 0.040) implied the potential role of mortality predictors for OSCC cases with nodal involvement.