Background. Beta-catenin plays two distinct roles, in intercellular adhesion by E-cadherin, and in transcriptional activation via TCF/LEF. Theoretically, the former role is tumor-suppressive, while the latter is oncogenic. We investigated the involvement of beta-catenin in the histogenesis and clinical outcome of gastric cancers.
Methods. The expression pattern of beta-catenin was evaluated in stomach and lymph nodes from 82 patients with gastric cancer by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. Its association with E-cadherin expression and clinicopathological factors, including histological type and postoperative survival, was examined.
Results. Beta-catenin expression was classified into two patterns, normal (23.2%; 19 patients) and disordered (76.8%; 63 patients), the latter being subclassified as overexpressed (7.3%; 6 patients) and reduced (69.5%; 57 patients). A disordered beta-catenin expression pattern was significantly correlated with diffuse type adenocarcinoma and deep tumor infiltration (P = 0.0154), but was not associated with lymph node metastasis (P = 0.7877). E-cadherin was always expressed at the cell membrane, and disordered beta-catenin expression was significantly associated with reduced E-cadherin expression (P < 0.0001). On univariate analysis, the beta-catenin pattern, as well as depth of invasion and lymph node metastasis, was associated with postoperative prognosis; however, only lymph node metastasis was an independent prognostic factor on multivariate analysis. Interestingly, different disordered patterns of beta-catenin expression, both overexpressed and reduced, were associated with E-cadherin reduction and poorer postoperative survival.
Conclusion. Although disordered patterns of beta-catenin expression varied in gastric cancers, they were consistently associated with cancer progression.
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Received: July 28, 2000 / Accepted: November 16, 2000
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Utsunomiya, T., Doki, Y., Takemoto, H. et al. Clinical significance of disordered beta-catenin expression pattern in human gastric cancers. Gastric Cancer 3, 193–201 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00011717
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00011717