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E‑cadherin expression and cell proliferation in the primary tumor and metastatic lymph nodes of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma

  • Authors:
    • Masanori Nakamura
    • Naoyoshi Onoda
    • Satoru Noda
    • Shinichiro Kashiwagi
    • Naoki Aomatsu
    • Kento Kurata
    • Hidemi Kawajiri
    • Tsutomu Takashima
    • Tetsuro Ishikawa
    • Kosei Hirakawa

  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: December 5, 2013     https://doi.org/10.3892/mco.2013.220
  • Pages: 226-232
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Abstract

Although papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) has an excellent prognosis, certain cases exhibit aggressive clinical manifestations. In this study, we assessed the expression of E‑cadherin and Ki‑67 in primary PTMC tumors and metastatic lymph nodes, in order to investigate the mechanism underlying the mainly indolent but potentially malignant nature of PTMC. A total of 93 PTMC patients treated in our institute were included in this study. All primary tumors and 57 metastatic lymph nodes were immunohistochemically stained and a total of 73 tumors (78.5%) were positive for E‑cadherin. E‑cadherin expression was significantly less common at the invasive front (58.1%, P<0.01) compared to that at the center of the tumor. Tumors that had lost E‑cadherin expression at the invasive front frequently presented with lymph node metastasis (70.6%). small tumors (≤5 mm diameter) expressed E‑cadherin significantly more frequently compared with larger tumors (P=0.04); however, no other particular characteristic was found to correlate with the status of E‑cadherin expression in the primary tumors. E‑cadherin expression was detected in 49 (86.0%) of the 57 metastatic foci and correlated significantly with the expression status at the invasive front of the tumor (P=0.02). The Ki‑67 index was universally low and was not correlated with the clinicopathological characteristics or the E‑cadherin expression of the tumors. These results suggested that cancer cells in the metastatic lymph nodes exhibit indolent characteristics, similar to those of the primary PTMC. However, the metastatic cancer cells may have already completed the process of epithelial‑to‑mesenchymal transition (EMT) and mesenchymal‑to‑epithelial transition (MET), suggesting an innate malignant potential.
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March-April 2014
Volume 2 Issue 2

Print ISSN: 2049-9450
Online ISSN:2049-9469

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  • CiteScore: 2.6
  • CiteScore Rank: Q3: #242/366 Oncology
  • Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP): 0.693
  • SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): 0.393
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Spandidos Publications style
Nakamura M, Onoda N, Noda S, Kashiwagi S, Aomatsu N, Kurata K, Kawajiri H, Takashima T, Ishikawa T, Hirakawa K, Hirakawa K, et al: E‑cadherin expression and cell proliferation in the primary tumor and metastatic lymph nodes of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma. Mol Clin Oncol 2: 226-232, 2014
APA
Nakamura, M., Onoda, N., Noda, S., Kashiwagi, S., Aomatsu, N., Kurata, K. ... Hirakawa, K. (2014). E‑cadherin expression and cell proliferation in the primary tumor and metastatic lymph nodes of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma. Molecular and Clinical Oncology, 2, 226-232. https://doi.org/10.3892/mco.2013.220
MLA
Nakamura, M., Onoda, N., Noda, S., Kashiwagi, S., Aomatsu, N., Kurata, K., Kawajiri, H., Takashima, T., Ishikawa, T., Hirakawa, K."E‑cadherin expression and cell proliferation in the primary tumor and metastatic lymph nodes of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma". Molecular and Clinical Oncology 2.2 (2014): 226-232.
Chicago
Nakamura, M., Onoda, N., Noda, S., Kashiwagi, S., Aomatsu, N., Kurata, K., Kawajiri, H., Takashima, T., Ishikawa, T., Hirakawa, K."E‑cadherin expression and cell proliferation in the primary tumor and metastatic lymph nodes of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma". Molecular and Clinical Oncology 2, no. 2 (2014): 226-232. https://doi.org/10.3892/mco.2013.220