E-cadherin in oral SCC: An analysis of the confusing literature and new insights related to its immunohistochemical expression

Marilena Vered, Irit Allon, Amos Buchner and Dan Dayan

Department of Oral Pathology and Oral Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Offprint requests to: Dr. M. Vered, Department of Oral Pathology and Oral Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978. Israel. e-mail: mvered@post.tau.ac.il


Summary. E-cadherin plays a crucial structural role in cell-cell contacts in epithelial tissues, and a functional role in signaling pathways that regulate cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival. Reduced immunoexpression of E-cadherin adhesions is largely considered as being equivalent to defective functionality and malignancy, and has been used as a prognostic parameter. A critical analysis of studies on E-cadherin immunoexpression in oral carcinomas revealed a wide range of both technical and interpretational aspects. This paper highlights biological characteristics of E-cadherin with respect to its expression in normal and neoplastic epithelial cells and to its interrelations with the tumor microenvironment that can have an impact on immunohistochemical results and their application in the clinical setting. Histol Histopathol 27, 141-150 (2012)

Key words: E-cadherin, Immunohistochemistry, Oral carcinoma, Extracellular and intracellular domain, Tumor microenvironment

DOI: 10.14670/HH-27.141