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BMC Cancer
Published in: BMC Cancer 1/2013

Open Access 01-12-2013 | Research article

Multicentric and multifocal versusunifocal breast cancer: differences in the expression of E-cadherin suggest differences in tumor biology

Authors: Tobias Weissenbacher, Eva Hirte, Christina Kuhn, Wolfgang Janni, Doris Mayr, Uwe Karsten, Brigitte Rack, Klaus Friese, Udo Jeschke, Sabine Heublein, Darius Dian, Nina Ditsch

Published in: BMC Cancer | Issue 1/2013

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Abstract

Background

The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of the cell adhesion-related glycoproteins MUC-1, β-catenin and E-cadherin in multicentric/multifocal breast cancer in comparison to unifocal disease in order to identify potential differences in the biology of these tumor types.

Methods

A retrospective analysis was performed on the expression of MUC1, β-catenin and E-cadherin by immunohistochemistry on tumor tissues of a series of 112 breast cancer patients (total collective) treated in Munich between 2000 and 2002. By matched-pair analysis, 46 patients were entered into two comparable groups of 23 patients after categorizing them as having multicentric/multifocal or unifocal breast cancer. Matching criteria were tumor size, histology grade and lymph node status; based on these criteria, patients were distributed equally between the two groups (p = 1.000 each). Data were analyzed with the Kruskal-Wallis and the Mann–Whitney tests.

Results

In the matched groups, we found a significantly down-regulated expression of E-cadherin in multicentric/multifocal breast cancer compared to unifocal disease (p = 0.024). The total collective showed even higher significance with a value of p < 0.0001. In contrast, no significant differences were observed in the expression of β-catenin between multicentric/multifocal and unifocal tumors (p = 0.636 and p = 0.914, respectively). When comparing the expression of MUC1, E-cadherin and β-catenin within the unifocal group, we found a significant positive correlation between E-cadherin and β-catenin (p = 0.003). In the multicentric/multifocal group we observed, in contrast to the unifocal group, a significant decrease of MUC1 expression with increased grading (p = 0.027).

Conclusion

This study demonstrates that multicentric/multifocal and unifocal breast cancers with identical TNM-staging clearly differ in the expression level of E-cadherin. We suggest that the down-regulation of E-cadherin in multicentric/multifocal breast cancer is causally connected with the worse prognosis of this tumor type.
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Metadata
Title
Multicentric and multifocal versusunifocal breast cancer: differences in the expression of E-cadherin suggest differences in tumor biology
Authors
Tobias Weissenbacher
Eva Hirte
Christina Kuhn
Wolfgang Janni
Doris Mayr
Uwe Karsten
Brigitte Rack
Klaus Friese
Udo Jeschke
Sabine Heublein
Darius Dian
Nina Ditsch
Publication date
01-12-2013
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Cancer / Issue 1/2013
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2407
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2407-13-361

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