Deranged expression of the E‐cadherin/β‐catenin complex and the epidermal growth factor receptor in the clinical evolution and progression of oral squamous cell carcinomas
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Titel:
Deranged expression of the E‐cadherin/β‐catenin complex and the epidermal growth factor receptor in the clinical evolution and progression of oral squamous cell carcinomas
Beschreibung:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p><jats:bold>Background: </jats:bold> Deranged expression and function of the E‐cadherin/β‐catenin (E‐cad/β‐cat) complex and the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) have been implicated in the development and progression of carcinomas.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Methods: </jats:bold> To estimate the role of these molecules in oral cancer, we investigated 75 primary oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs) with adjacent normal and/or dysplastic mucosa, 30 paired metastases and 12 recurrences by immunohistochemistry.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Results: </jats:bold> All three molecules were constitutionally expressed in the basal/parabasal layers of tumour adjacent ‘normal’ epithelium, in contrast to a significant increase of EGFR and heterogeneous expression of E‐cad/β‐cat in dysplasia. In OSCCs, over‐expression of EGFR correlated significantly with lower tumour grade and poor prognosis, loss of E‐cad was a significant marker for shortened survival, reduced β‐cat staining was a predictive marker for lymph node metastasis.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Conclusions: </jats:bold> There is a perturbance in intercellular adhesion molecules and EGFR expression/function in oral cancer with major clinical impact. E‐cad and β‐cat seem to inhibit EGFR to enhance the progression of OSCCs.</jats:p>