The Study Of Roles About E-cadherin, α-, β-catenin In The Differentiation, Apoptosis And Metastasis Of Ovarian Epithelial Tumors

Objective To detect the expression of E-cadherin , α-,β-catenin in ovarian epithelial tumors(OETs),and explore the roles of adhension system mediated by E-cadherin in the differentiation,apoptosis and metastasis of OETs.Methods Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and TUNEL method were used to detect the expression of E-cadherin, α-,β-catenin and apoptosis respectively in 20 cases of benign, 20 cases of boderline ,20 cases of malignant OETS (including 6 cases of G1 9 cases of G2 ,5 cases of G3 .Half of them had metastatic tissues). H score and apoptosis index (AI) were used to evaluate the results respectively. Results 1.The expression of E-cadherin , α-,β-catenin decreased from benign to borderline and malignant OETS,which also decreased with the grade of malignant OETs. The differences of the three proteins' expression between benign and malignant group, G1 andG3 group ;the E-cadherin between benign and borderline group ,G1 and G2 group; the α-catenin between borderline and malignant group ,G2 and G3 group were statistically significant(p﹤0.05). 2.The expression of E-cadherin was related to β-catenin and α-catenin in benign and borderline OETS. (E-cadherin and α-catenin : r=0.761,p=0.000; r=0.650,p=0.02.E-cadherin and β-catenin: r=0.669,p=0.001; r=0.653,p=0.02.) 3. There was agreement between the expression of β-catenin and α-catenin in benign(r=0.693,p=0.001), borderline (r=0.898,p=0.000) and maligant OETS(r=0.663,p=0.001). 4.AI increased from benign to borderline and malignant OETS.The differences between any two of them were statistically significant(p﹤0.01). AI was reversely related to the expression of E-cadherin in benign (r=-0.448,p=0.047)and malignant OETS(r=-0.570,p=0.009). 5.β-catenin was expressed in the nuclear and cytoplasm in serous malignant OETS. 6.The expression of E-cadherin and α-,β-catenin were all lower in primary malignant OETS than in metastatic lesions(p﹤0.05).Conclusions 1.The impaired adhension system which was mediated by E-cadherin made an important role during the course of maligant transformation of OETS and the differentiation of malignant OETS. 2. β-catenin was expressed in the nuclear and cytoplasm in serous malignant OETS,which indicated that β-catenin /APC/Tcf/Lef pathway might be involved in the carcinogenesis of serous ovarian cancers. 3. AI increased from benign to boderline and maligant OETs. During the course of apoptosis of benign and malignant OETS E-cadherin might play an important role in transducting signal of negative regulation. 4. Adhension system which was mediated by E-cadherin might play an important role in the buliding of metastatic lesions of maligant OETs .