The role of E-cadherin and β-catenin in laryngeal cancer

Abstract

Epithelial cadherins with catenins form the E-cadherin-catenin complex that acts on cell-to-cell adhesion. The loss of these complex lead to the reduction or absence of epithelial cadherin expression in the cell membrane, cytoplasmic accumulation of β-catenin and its translocation to the nucleus, contributing to carcinogenic events. The objective of this study was to evaluate the expression of epithelial cadherin and β-catenin in patients with laryngeal tumor. A retrospective study of 52 patients with glottic or supraglottic squamous cell carcinoma was conducted and evaluated according to the tumor site, histological differentiation, TNM stage, survival analysis and compared with the immunohistochemical expression of epithelial cadherin and β-catenin. We observed statistically significant association between the epithelial cadherin expression reduction and supraglottic localization of the lesion, the presence of cervical metastasis, poorly differentiated tumors and locally advanced tumors when in glottic topography. Related to the expression of β-catenin, statistical significance was also found to the presence of cervical metastasis and tumor of low differentiation with the decreased expression of this marker. Regarding survival analysis, the low expression of β-catenin is related to worse overall survival and the reduction of expression of both markers to worse disease-free survival. We concluded that the reduction in expression of the markers studied leads to a prognostic impact as they are related to tumors with greater local aggressiveness and presence of cervical metastasis.