| Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the re-expression ofα-catenin (α-Catenin,α-Cat) in cancerous cells of metastatic lymph nodes from advanced gastric carcinoma and evaluate its clinical significance.Methods: The ways of immunohistochemistry, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR),Western -blot , FCM were applied to detecte simultaneously the expression of theα-catenin in cancerous cells from 30 primary advanced gastric carcinomas and their metastatic lymph nodes.The correlationship between the results and theclinicopathological characteristics was analyzed.Results:⑴Immunohistochemistry: The rate of the reduced expression ofα-catenin of 30 primary tumors from gastric cancer was 100% (30/30).And the rate of the re-expression ofα-catenin in the metastatic lymph nodes was 50% (15/30).Of 14 well-differentiated adenocarcinoms the rate ofα-catenin re-expression was 71.42% (10/14),and 0f 16 poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas the rate was 31.25% (5 / 16). The re-expression ofα-catenin was more frequently detected in metastatic lymph nodes from well-differentiated adenocarcinoma than that from poorly (P <0.05). Of 18 tubular adenocarcinoma and papillary adenocarcinoma,the re-expression rate , 61.11%(11/18)was significantly higher than that of the 33.33%(4/12)in mucinous adenocarcinoma(P>0.05).The re-expression rate ofα-catenin has no statistical difference in different tumor size and infiltration depth.⑵RT-PCR the expression level ofα-Cat mRNA in primary foci tissues of all 30 cases was ( 1.116±0.407), and that in metastatic of lymph nodes was (0.501±0.295) (P=0.024<0.05).α-Cat mRNA expression level in metastatic lymph nodes from well-differentiated adenocarcinoma was (0.649±0.333), and that in poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma was (0.373±0.185).This differences has statistical significance (P=0.008<0.01). In tubular adenocarcinoma and papillary adenocarcinoma,theα-catenin expression level was (0.548±0.346), and in the mucinous adenocarcinoma, that was (0.433±0.159)(P=0.302>0.05). In the metastatic lymph nodes the expression level ofα-catenin was unrelated to the tumor size and infiltration depth⑶Western-blot: The expression ofα-catenin was detected in all the 30 primary foci and their corresponding metastatic lymph nodes. In Primary carcinoma, the relative intensity ofα-catenin was 11 ~ 170 (105.2±42.3), and in metastatic lymph node,that was 8 ~ 112 (39.91±27.54). The relative intensity ofα-catenin in metastatic lymph nodes with well-differentiated adenocarcinoma was (25 ~ 112 ,54.32±33.17),was significantly higher than that in poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma(8~55,27.29±12.21)(P<0.05).In tubular adenocarcinoma and papillary adenocarcinoma ,the relative intensity ofα-catenin expression was (45.81±32.78), and that was (31.05±9.51) in mucinous adenocarcinoma,The difference has no statistical significance(P=0.154> 0.05). The expression ofα-catenin was unrelated to the tumor size and infiltration depth.⑷Flow cytometry(FCM): The results from flow cytometry show that the protein expression ofα-catenin was detected in all the 30 primary tumors and their corresponding metastatic lymph nodes.It was in accordance with the results of western-blot.Conclusion: Abnormal expression ofα-catenin exists in primary foci of advanced gastric cancer,and meanwhile,a higher rate of positive re-expression ofα-catenin in cancer cells of metastatic lymph nodes is also observed.α-catenin expression in metastatic lymph nodes showed some consistency between the protein and its mRNA in a certain degree.This situation indicate that some factors may cause the abnormal expression ofα-catenin mRNA and furthermore the reduce trying about ofα-catenin expression. For early diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer,we can investigate the expression ofα-catenin in primary foci and metastatic lymph nodes, the results may improve diagnostic accuracy, and furthermore,it is possible to evaluate tumor occurrence, development and metasis by way ofcorrelation of abnormalα-catenin expression. |
PDF Full Text Request