Expression Of Ezrin And E-cadherin In Transitional Cell Carcinoma Of The Bladder And Their Correlations To Invasive Metastasis

OBJECTIVE:Ezrin,a cytoskeleton linker protein,is actively involved in regulating the growth and metastasis of cancer cells.This study was performed to detect the expression of Ezrin and E-cadherin in bladder transitional cell carcinoma in order to evaluate their possible roles in metastasis.METHODS:The expression of Ezrin and E-cadherin in 80 specimens of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder(26 with metastasis,54 without metastasis) was detected by SP immunohistochemistry.RESULTS:The abnormal expression rates of Ezrin and E-cadherin were significantly higher in the cases with metastasis than in the cases without metastasis(73.91%vs. 51.35%,P=0.039;65.22%vs.40.54%,P＜0.001).The abnormal expression of Ezrin was positively correlated to that of E-cadherin(r=0.898,P=0.038).CONCLUSION:Ezrin and E-cadherin are closely related to invasion and metastasis of bladder transitional cell carcinoma,suggesting that they are important tumor markers in predicting metastasis of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder.