Mosnier J-F et al. – In combination with cytokeratin 7 and Hep Par1, N-cadherin is a reliable tool for histopathological diagnosis of primary hepatic tumors Methods
Study of E- and N-cadherin expressions in intrahepatic bile duct tumors for their potential role in differential diagnosis
Review of normal liver tissue, 5 cirrhosis with ductular reaction, 5 focal nodular hyperplasia, 5 bile duct hamartomas, 5 bile duct adenomas, and 45 intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas from Causasian pts
Tissue-microarrays: 20 esophageal, 86 gastric, 8 small bowel, 64 colonic, 18 pancreatic, 6 gallbladder, and 7 extrahepatic biliary tract adenocarcinomas, 22 hepatocellular carcinomas, and normal tissues
Immunohistochemistry using E-cadherin, N-cadherin, NCAM, Hep Par1, and cytokeratins 7, 19 and 20
Immunoblot analysis of frozen liver tissues to control specificity of E- and N-cadherin antibodies
Results
In normal liver, epithelial cells of intrahepatic bile ducts and hepatocytes coexpressed E- and N-cadherins at plasma membranes
In cirrhosis, ductular reactions completely expressed E- and N-cadherins
All benign lesions and 30 of the intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas (23/29 peripheral; 7/16 hilar) expressed N-cadherin
E-cadherin detected in all lesions
N-cadherin expression at tumor cell plasma membrane: significantly more frequent in peripheral vs hilar intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas
In noncholangiocarcinomas, 1% of gastric, 66% of gallbladder adenocarcinomas, and all hepatocellular carcinomas expressed N-cadherin at tumor cell membranes
In gastrointestinal and liver tract, membranous N-cadherin is restricted to hepatocytes and intrahepatic biliary cells
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