Purpose: The expression of E-cadherin correlates with the development, progression, and metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Slug, a member of the snail family of transcriptional factors, is a newly identified suppressive transcriptional factor of E-cadherin. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the clinical significance of E-cadherin and Slug expression in ESCC.
Experimental design: Immunohistochemistry was used to investigate the expression of E-cadherin and Slug proteins in 203 patients with ESCC. The relationships between expression of these proteins and clinicopathologic factors, including prognosis, were analyzed.
Results: Positive expression of E-cadherin and Slug was observed in 43% and 48% of cases, respectively. The tumors with reduced E-cadherin expression or positive Slug expression invaded deeper, had more lymph node metastasis, and had more lymphatic invasion than the tumors with preserved E-cadherin expression or negative Slug expression. Slug expression significantly correlated with reduced E-cadherin expression. Sixty-seven of the 98 (68.4%) tumors with positive Slug expression had reduced E-cadherin expression (P = 0.0011). Patients with reduced E-cadherin expression or positive Slug expression had poor clinical outcomes. In the preserved E-cadherin group, the 5-year survival rate was better for patients who were negative for Slug expression than for those who were positive for Slug expression (P = 0.035). Multivariate analysis indicated that E-cadherin expression and Slug expression were not independent prognostic factors.
Conclusions: Evaluation of not only the expression of E-cadherin but also the co-expression of E-cadherin and Slug in preserved E-cadherin group is useful for predicting malignant properties of ESCC.