RESUMO
PURPOSE: Abnormal expression of E-cadherin has been shown to play a role in the progression and the metastasis of tumors. We investigated the correlation between the expressions of E-cadherin and the clinicopathologic factors and survival in pT2 gastric adenocarcinomas. METHODS: We examined formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded archival tissues from 100 surgically resected gastric adeno-carcinomas with pT2 lesion. Tissue preparations were stained with Zymed's monoclonal mouse anti-E-cadherin (clone: 4A2C7). We analyzed the correlation between the expressions of E-cadherin and clinicopathologic factors. RESULTS: Normal gastric mucosa was immunoreactive with anti-E-cadherin antibody. Among the 100 tumors examined, 73 tumors showed expression of E-cadherin. The gender, age, size, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, stage (UICC), lymphatic invasion, vascular invasion were not related with E-cadherin expression but Lauren classification and histologic type were strongly correlated with E-cadherin expression (P=0.000, P=0.006). Though patients with dec-rea-sed expression of E-cadherin showed a poorer median survival than normal expression (43.85+/-23.95 months vs. 61.27+/-33.47 months), expression of E-cadherin was not related with survival rate (P=0.668). CONCLUSION: In patients with gastric cancer, expressions of E-cadherin correlated with histologic type and Lauren classi-fication but not with survival.