The complementary role of β-catenin in diagnosing various subtypes of renal cell carcinomas and its up-regulation in conventional renal cell carcinomas with high nuclear grades
- Authors:
- Published online on: May 1, 2001 https://doi.org/10.3892/or.8.3.521
- Pages: 521-526
Metrics: Total
Views: 0 (Spandidos Publications: | PMC Statistics: )
Total PDF Downloads: 0 (Spandidos Publications: | PMC Statistics: )
Abstract
β-catenin is a kind of cytoplasmic protein involved in cell adhesion and signal transduction. This study investigated its expression in various subtypes of renal cell carcinomas (RCCs) using an immunohistochemical staining method. β-catenin expression was assessed from staining frequency and staining score. Staining score was performed by evaluating both staining percentage and intensity. All subtypes of RCCs reacted positively with β-catenin. However, the positive frequency and staining score in papillary and chromophobe RCCs were significantly higher than those in conventional RCCs (p<0.05). In addition, in conventional RCCs, the positive frequency and staining score of β-catenin showed a significant difference between nuclear grades I/II and grade III (p<0.05). Therefore, it may indicate that β-catenin can serve as a complementary tool to distinguish conventional RCCs from chromophobe RCCs. In conventional RCCs with low nuclear grades, β-catenin expression is generally down-regulated, while it appears to be preserved in those with high nuclear grades.