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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Induction and Analysis of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition
Published on: August 27, 2013
[Correlation between the intercellular adhesion molecule (E-cadherin) and its associated protein (alpha-catenin)
H Shiozaki1, J Gofuku, M Inoue
1Department of Surgery II, Osaka University Medical School.
Abstract:
The immunostaining (ABC method) of E-cadherin and alpha-catenin were performed on 46 esophageal cancers, 67 gastric cancers, 100 colon cancers. E-cadherin and alpha-catenin expression was evaluated as preserved and reduced according to the proportion of positive cells, respectively. The reduction of alpha-catenin expression was more significantly related to lymph node metastasis than that of E-cadherin. Furthermore, the frequency of hematogenous liver metastasis in preserved E-cadherin expression and reduced alpha-catenin expression was significantly higher than that in another combination of E-cadherin and alpha-catenin expression, in gastric and colon cancer. The reduction of alpha-catenin expression was associated with declined intercellular adhesiveness, which occasionally was not accompanied by reduction of E-cadherin. Therefore, the expression of alpha-catenin might more sensitively indicated cell-cell adhesion, predicting tumor metastasis.
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