Multicentric and multifocal versus unifocal breast cancer: differences in the expression of E-cadherin suggest differences in tumor biology

BMC Cancer

Tobias Weissenbacher³  Eva Hirte²  Christina Kuhn²  Wolfgang Janni⁶  Doris Mayr¹  Uwe Karsten⁵  Brigitte Rack²  Klaus Friese²  Udo Jeschke²  Sabine Heublein²  Darius Dian²  Nina Ditsch⁴ 

[1] Pathologisches Institut, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, Germany

[2] Frauenklinik, Klinikum der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Innenstadt, München, Germany

[3] Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Campus Innenstadt Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich, Maistr. 11, Munich D-80337, Germany

[4] Frauenklinik, Klinikum der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Groβhadern, München, Germany

[5] Glycotope GmbH, Berlin, Germany

[6] Frauenklinik, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf, Germany

关键词: β-catenin;    E-cadherin;    Tumor biology;    Multifocal;    Multicentric;    MUC-1;    Breast cancer;   

Others  :  1079629
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2407-13-361

 received in 2013-01-30, accepted in 2013-07-22,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of the cell adhesion-related glycoproteins MUC-1, β-catenin and E-cadherin in multicentric/multifocal breast cancer in comparison to unifocal disease in order to identify potential differences in the biology of these tumor types.

Methods

A retrospective analysis was performed on the expression of MUC1, β-catenin and E-cadherin by immunohistochemistry on tumor tissues of a series of 112 breast cancer patients (total collective) treated in Munich between 2000 and 2002. By matched-pair analysis, 46 patients were entered into two comparable groups of 23 patients after categorizing them as having multicentric/multifocal or unifocal breast cancer. Matching criteria were tumor size, histology grade and lymph node status; based on these criteria, patients were distributed equally between the two groups (p = 1.000 each). Data were analyzed with the Kruskal-Wallis and the Mann–Whitney tests.

Results

In the matched groups, we found a significantly down-regulated expression of E-cadherin in multicentric/multifocal breast cancer compared to unifocal disease (p = 0.024). The total collective showed even higher significance with a value of p < 0.0001. In contrast, no significant differences were observed in the expression of β-catenin between multicentric/multifocal and unifocal tumors (p = 0.636 and p = 0.914, respectively). When comparing the expression of MUC1, E-cadherin and β-catenin within the unifocal group, we found a significant positive correlation between E-cadherin and β-catenin (p = 0.003). In the multicentric/multifocal group we observed, in contrast to the unifocal group, a significant decrease of MUC1 expression with increased grading (p = 0.027).

Conclusion

This study demonstrates that multicentric/multifocal and unifocal breast cancers with identical TNM-staging clearly differ in the expression level of E-cadherin. We suggest that the down-regulation of E-cadherin in multicentric/multifocal breast cancer is causally connected with the worse prognosis of this tumor type.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Weissenbacher et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

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