EVALUATION OF E-CADHERIN EXPRESSION IN INVASIVE BREAST CARCINOMA AND ITS HISTO-PATHOLOGICAL CORRELATION

Abstract

BACKGROUND: 
Breast carcinoma is the most common malignant tumour and the second most common cause of 
carcinoma death in women. In the present scenario predicting disease outcome is becoming increasingly 
important, especially for planning treatment strategies and for counselling the patient. Numerous 
prognostic markers have also been identified in recent years through increasing understanding of the 
biology of breast cancer. One group of these possible factors is the Cadherin family. Selective loss of E
Cadherin can cause de-differentiation and invasiveness in human carcinomas. Reduced expression of E
Cadherin has been observed in aggressive tumours of the oesophagus, ovary, and stomach. These data 
indicate that E-Cadherin is a potential bio-marker to predict which patients will experience more 
aggressive form of the disease. This information can potentially be used to reduce morbidity and 
mortality in breast cancer patients. Hence this study was undertaken to find out the expression of E
Cadherin in invasive breast cancers by IHC assay along with other routine IHC markers like ER, PR, and 
HER- 2/neu, as well as to correlate the expression of E-Cadherin with tumour aggressiveness in terms of 
different parameters like histopathologic type, grade, lymph node status, tumour size and molecular 
subtypes.