Clinical significance of co-expression of E-cadherin and vimentin in invasive breast cancer.

Abstract

e22013 Background: E-cadherin has been categorized as a tumor suppressor and its downregulation is considered to occur in the process of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). E-cadherin and vimentin are now regarded as major and conventional canonical markers of EMT. We previously reported that the elevated expression of vimentin contributes to the aggressive phenotype in invasive breast cancer. However, the role of E-cadherin in breast cancer biology might be unclear and more complex. The aim of this study is to reveal the clinical importance of the expression of E-cadherin and vimentin in breast cancer. Methods: The E-cadherin and vimentin protein expression were evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 176 invasive breast cancer samples. Among these, E-cadherin and vimentin expression were evaluated in the set of primary breast cancer and metastatic lymph nodes in 65 cases. Results: The positive vimentin expression was highly correlated with poor disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) (p = 0.019 and p = 0.0044), however, the E-cadherin expression alone did not correlate with prognosis. Interestingly, Both E-cadherin and vimentin positive tumor had the worst DFS and OS among all breast cancer (p = 0.03 and p = 0.0089). Vimentin expression was highly correlated between primary tumors and metastatic lymph nodes. However, E-cadherin expression levels were significantly elevated in metastatic lymph nodes (p = 0.0017), Co-expression of E-cadherin and vimentin in the metastatic lymph nodes also showed worst DFS and OS (p = 0.12 and p = 0.027). Conclusions: Co-expression of E-cadherin and vimentin seems to be associated with the most aggressive phenotype and poor prgnosis in breast cancer, and positive E-cadherin expression may not always play roles for tumor suppression.