Expression of E-cadherin in esophageal carcinoma was studied immunohistochemically in 65 patients using an anti-human E-cadherin monoclonal antibody (HECD-1). In normal esophageal epithelium, E-cadherin was strongly expressed on cell-cell boundaries. On the contrary, a reduced E-cadherin expression (Rd-type) was frequently observed in cancer tissues (56/65, 88%). The frequency of Rd-type was much higher in cases with deeper invasion (48/52, 92%) than that in cases with superficial invasion (8/13, 62%) (p<0.05). Concerning lymph node metastasis, the frequency of Rd-type in the metastatic tumor group (47/49, 96%) was significantly higher than that in the non-metastatic tumor group (9/16, 56%) (p<0.01). These results suggest that E-cadherin might play a key role in the progression of carcinogenesis and that the reduction of E-cadherin expression is associated with malignant potential such as invasion and metastasis in human esophageal cancer.

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