E-cadherin and β-catenin immunoexpression in endometrioid endometrial carcinoma

E-cadherin and β-catenin are two molecules implicated in cellular adhesion. The reduced expression of β-catenin and E-cadherin is associated with the tumoral epithelial-mesenchymal transition process, a key event in the development of endometrial carcinoma. The aim of our study was to investigate the association between the immunoexpression of β-catenin÷E-cadherin and the tumor differentiation degree, presence of lymph nodes, depth of tumor invasion and pTNM stage of endometrioid endometrial carcinomas in order to enhance the potential aggressiveness of these tumors. Our results revealed significant differences in the expression of β-catenin, when grouping for the tumor stage, invasion in the myometrium and degree of differentiation, as well as significant differences in the expression of E-cadherin for tumor degrees of differentiation. E-cadherin and β-catenin expression was stronger in well-differentiated tumors, superficial myometrium invasion and early tumor stages I or II, thus was associated with better prognostic forms of endometrioid endometrial carcinoma. Our study indicated that decreased of the E-cadherin and β-catenin expression is useful for the assessment of tumor aggressivity.