Predictive value of E-cadherin and Ep-CAM in cervical lymph node metastasis of supraglottic larynx carcinoma

To evaluate the value of E-cadherin and epithelial cell adhesion molecule (Ep-CAM) expression in laryngeal biopsy materials for predicting cervical lymph node metastasis in patients with supraglottic laryngeal carcinoma.

All patients participating in the study were selected from among the surgically treated patients at the department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Erciyes University School of Medicine between 1991 and 2005. The study consisted of thirty patients who had pathologically metastatic lymph nodes (pN+ group) and 30 age-, sex-, T value- and differentiation matched patients without pathologically metastatic lymph nodes (pN0 group). Immunohistochemical studies were performed with E-cadherin and Ep-CAM antibodies on representative tumor sections collected from paraffin sections of laryngeal biopsy materials. The expression of E-cadherin and Ep-CAM was compared between the pN0 and pN+ groups. The association between immunostaining of E-cadherin and Ep-CAM was also evaluated.

There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of E-cadherin and Ep-CAM expression. There was also a very poor agreement between the expression of E-cadherin and Ep-CAM.

Multi-institutional and multidisciplinary immunohistochemical studies conducted with standardized methodology and also with more patient participation may help to obtain more specific results.