Expression of component desmosomal proteins in uterine endometrial carcinoma and their relation to cellular differentiation

✍ Scribed by Hideyuki Nei; Tsuyoshi Saito; Hirotoshi Tobioka; Eiki Itoh; Michio Mori; Ryuichi Kudo

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 877 KB
• Volume: 78
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19960801)78:3<461::aid-cncr13>3.0.co;2-x

✦ Synopsis

BACKGROUND.

While the assessment of the malignancy of neoplasms is based on morphologic studies of cells and tissues, use of objective molecular markers is leading to a better understanding and more biologically meaningful classification of neoplasms. In recent years, changes in the expression of cell adhesion molecules, especially E-cadherin, catenin, and adenomatous polyposis coli (APC), in carcinomas have attracted the attention of researchers. However, little is known about desmosomes in the uterine endometrium or in endometrial carcinomas. In this study, we semiquantified the desmosomal components desmoplakin I and I1 and desmoglein, in tissue sections using confocal laser scanning microscopy (LSM), and examined their relationship to the pathological type, the occurrence of lymph node metastases, and the extent of myometrial invasion.

METHOD.

Frozen sections of 31 specimens of normal endometrium, 5 specimens of atypical hyperplasia, and 41 specimens of endometrial carcinoma were stained by the immunofluorescence method using antidesmoplakin I and I1 and antidesmoglein, and these markers were then semiquantified in tissue sections by LSM.