Expression of E-Cadherin and Syndecan-1 in Axillary Lymph Node Metastases of Breast Cancer with and without Extracapsular Extension
Voranuch Thanakit MD*, Preecha Ruangvejvorachai BSc*, Pichet Sampatanukul MD*
Affiliation : * Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok
Background : Extracapsular extension of axillary lymph node (ECE) has significantly increased the risk of
locoregional and distant recurrence in breast cancer patients.
Objective : Identify markers with high biological aggressiveness since it may serve as a prognostic indicator
or adjunct to standard treatment.
Material and Method: The authors immunostained 115 axillary lymph nodes of invasive ductal carcinoma
with syndecan-1 and E-cadherin.
Results : The presented data shows a significantly higher number of positive lymph node(8.48 vs. 4.15; p <
0.0001) and larger primary tumor size(3.53 vs. 2.79; p = 0.0029) in ECE patients. Sixty-one cases had node
positive and without evidence of ECE, 54 cases had ECE. Syndecan-1 was found to be of significantly high
expression (p = 0.001). There was no significant difference in the expression of E-cadherin during progression
into extracapsular area (p = 0.12).
Conclusion : E-cadherin displays high expression in nodal breast cancer metastases that may have re-expression
and has coordinate function with syndecan-1while invading to the surrounding fatty tissue. The protein is,
therefore, likely to play a role in the invasiveness and aggressiveness.
Keywords : Breast cancer, E-cadherin, Syndecan-1, Extracapsular extension
