Aberrant staining patterns of E-cadherin and beta-catenin: a potential diagnostic value for distinguishing vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia from non-neoplastic vulvar lesions

作者：Li Bo; Zhang Qingfu; Ouyang Ling^*; Jia Lin; Han Xue; Zhou Yang; Tong Xin; Song Zixuan; Zhang Shulang; Qiu Xueshan

来源：International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology, 2013, 6(7): 1362-1366.

• beta-catenin
• E-cadherin
• vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia
• immunohistochemistry

Histologically, vulvar intraepithelial neoplasm (VIN) is a proliferative disorder of the female vulva. No single clinical characteristic or pathognomonic feature facilitates the diagnosis of VIN, and the agreement between different pathologists on the diagnoses varies significantly. In this study, we evaluate the immunohistochemical expression patterns of E-cadherin and beta-catenin in 22 patients with VIN and 10 patients with non-neoplastic vulvar lesions. our results showed that membranous staining for E-cadherin and beta-catenin was observed in squamous epithelial cells of all control non-neoplastic vulvar samples. Abnormal E-cadherin (17/19, 89.5%) and beta-catenin (15/19, 78.9%) staining occurred more frequently in usual-type VIN than in non-neoplastic vulvar lesions (P=0.000 and P=0.000, respectively). However, in differentiated VIN, only 1 patient showed abnormal E-cadherin and beta-catenin immunohistochemical expressions, which did not differ significantly. The abnormal expression of E-cadherin and beta-catenin proteins might be useful in distinguishing VIN from non-neoplastic vulvar squamous epithelium lesions in problematic cases.

• 出版日期2013
• 单位中国医科大学