Background & objective: The recurrence and metastasis after treatment of adenoid cystic carcinoma was usually observed in the clinical practice. There is no good indicator to evaluate the prognosis of ACC at present. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between the expression of cell adhesion molecules E-cadherin (E-cad) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and prognosis in the patients with ACC.
Methods: The expression of E-cad and PCNA in 34 patients with ACC were detected by immunohistochemical staining.
Results: The 5-year survival rate of the patients was significantly lower in solid type of ACC than in cribriform or tubular type (P < 0.01). Clinical stages were significantly related to local recurrence and/or distant metastasis of the tumor (P < 0.01) and to 5-year survival rate of the patients with ACC (P < 0.01). Absent or low E-cad expression (50.0%) was observed more frequently in ACC with local recurrence and/or distant metastasis and with less than 5-year survival period (P < 0.05). The rate of local recurrence and/or distant metastasis of the tumor was significantly higher in high PCNA expression group (P < 0.005) than in low PCNA expression group, while the 5-year survival rate of the former was significantly lower (P < 0.005). The expression of E-cad was in high correlation with that of PCNA (P < 0.005).
Conclusions: E-cad, PCNA expression, and clinical stages could be regarded as effective indices for evaluating the prognosis of ACC. E-cad may cooperate with PCNA in the malignant development of ACC.