E-CADHERIN AS A PROGNOSTIC AND PREDICTIVE BIOMARKER IN INVASIVE BREAST CARCINOMA, A CLINICO-PATHOLOGICAL STUDY

Background: Breast cancer continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Egypt. The behavior of breast cancer varies widely. Several parameters have been investigated to predict the prognosis in breast cancer. But still there is no single parameter that can predict prognosis in an individual patient. E-cadherin is a novel prognostic marker; a calcium-dependent epithelial cell adhesion molecule. Its loss has been associated with metastases, thereby providing evidence for its role as an invasion suppressor. Aim: The objective of the present study was to assess the prognostic value of E-cadherin expression in breast cancer cases, and its correlations with the other studied prognostic parameters, especially the lymph node status. Materials and methods: the immunohistochemical expression of E-cadherin was studied in 70 cases of invasive breast cancer; ten of them are of the lobular subtype. Results: E-cadherin expression was positive in 44 cases (62.9%) and negative in 26 cases (37.1%). It was positive in 42 cases of the 58 cases of invasive ductal type, while it was negative in all the lobular breast cancer cases and it was positive in both the mucinous and papillary carcinoma. There was a statistically significant difference between E-cadherin positive and E-cadherin negative cases as regard tumor grade and stage, lymph node status, Her2? receptor status and conservative surgery rates while there was no statistically significant difference between E-cadherin+ /- as regard tumor size, Estrogen and Progesterone status. Conclusion: A significant correlation was found between strong E-cadherin expression and node negative cases indicating that E-cadherin can be used as a prognostic and predictive marker.