Utility of immunohistochemical expression of E-cadherin in colorectal carcinoma

Reduced expression of E-cadherin, an intercellular junction protein, is associated with differentiation and metastasis of multiple cancers, including colorectal cancer.

To investigate the utility of the immunohistochemistry of E-cadherin as a prognostic marker for colorectal cancer (CRC).

Immunohistochemical analysis for E-cadherin was performed on 100 paraffin blocks retrieved from resected specimens of CRC patients. The collected data were statistically analysed.

Among the 100 patients, men comprised 58% and the majority had tumour size of 5-10 cm (55%). Grade II CRC was more common (74%) than grade I and III (13% each). The correlation of E-cadherin expression with lymph node involvement was statistically significant, as revealed by p-value < 0.01, with about 27% in N1 and 13% in N2 stage. E-cadherin expression was significantly correlated with tumour differentiation pattern (p < 0.01), wherein out of 13 poorly differentiated carcinomas, 38.5% and 30.5% of samples showed negative and weak E-cadherin staining, respectively.

Furthermore, a shift from membranous E-cadherin staining in normal cells to cytoplasmic and mixed staining was observed in cancer cells. The study indicates that immunohistochemical E-cadherin expression has prognostic value, as revealed by its loss of expression in poorly differentiated cells and lymph node metastasis.