E-cadherin expression in squamous cell carcinomas of head and neck: inverse correlation with tumor dedifferentiation and lymph node metastasis.

Abstract

Tissue sections of 32 squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) of the head and neck were investigated for the expression of the epithelium-specific cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin. We found that E-cadherin expression is inversely correlated both with the loss of differentiation of the tumor and with lymph node metastasis. The well-differentiated SCCs expressed E-cadherin, often as strongly as the normal stratified epithelium (12 cases were tested); the moderately differentiated SCCs expressed intermediate amounts of E-cadherin or were heterogeneous (15 cases were analyzed); whereas the poorly differentiated SCCs were all E-cadherin-negative (five cases were investigated). Furthermore, seven of eight infiltrated lymph nodes of SCCs were E-cadherin-negative. These data indicate that the loss of the cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin in fact plays an important role in the progression of human squamous cell carcinomas, i.e., that down-regulation of expression is associated with dedifferentiation and metastasis of the tumor cells in vivo.