Immunohistochemical Expression of E-Cadherin and ß-Catenin in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Background: The E-cadherin/ß-catenin protein complexes are actively involved in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Alterations in cadherin or catenin expression or function, play important roles in the development of invasive or metastatic phenotypes of cancers. Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the expression of E-cadherin and ß-catenin in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients and to compare this with their clinico-pathological parameters. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study to assess the immunohistochemical expression of E-cadherin and ß-catenin in 41 cases of OSCC. Data were analyzed using version 26 of SPSS software. Qualitative data were compared using chi-square statistics. Quantitative data were summarized using mean, standard deviation, and confidence interval and compared using a one-way analysis of variance test. The level of significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: Overall, 95.1% of the cases had positive membrane expression for E-cadherin, while cytoplasmic staining was seen in 90.2% cases. Positive nuclear staining was seen in 46.3% cases. There was a decrease in the percentage of cytoplasmic and nuclear expression of E-cadherin as the OSCC became more poorly differentiated (χ2 = 13.96, P = 0.016). Also, a decrease in the percentage of nuclear expression of ß-catenin in poorly differentiated cases was seen. However, no statistically significant difference was seen in the expression of ß-catenin between the different histologic grades (χ2 = 4.8, P = 0.4). Conclusion: This study shows a reduction in the expression of E-cadherin and ß-catenin as OSCC becomes less differentiated.