A comparison of Twist and E-cadherin protein expression in primary non-small-cell lung carcinoma and corresponding metastases

作者：Wang Guanghui; Dong Wei; Shen Hongchang; Mu Xueru; Li Zhenxiang; Lin Xiaoyan; Liu Ying; Du Jiajun^*

来源：European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, 2011, 39(6): 1028-1032.

DOI：10.1016/j.ejcts.2011.01.023

• Twist
• E-cadherin
• Non-small-cell lung carcinoma
• Metastasis
• Epithelial-mesenchymal transition
• Immunohistochemistry

Objective: The metastasis of solid tumors is directly or indirectly responsible for most cancer-related deaths. It has already been known that in non-small-cell lung carcinoma cells, up-regulation of Twist (a highly conserved basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor) can promote epithelial-mesenchymal transition through down-regulation of E-cadherin. The main aim of this study was to determine whether the expression of Twist and E-cadherin differs between primary and metastatic lung carcinoma and to correlate Twist and E-cadherin expression in primary and metastatic non-small-cell lung carcinoma. Methods: Thirteen patients with non-small-cell lung carcinoma and hematogenous metastases were studied in retrospect, and Twist and E-cadherin were detected by immunohistochemistry in 26 tissue samples from the 13 patients. Results: We demonstrated that the expression of Twist was higher in metastatic non-small-cell lung carcinoma tissues than in primary non-small-cell lung carcinoma (p = 0.008) and discordance of Twist expression was observed in 11 (85%) patients. For E-cadherin, 12 cases (92%) showed discordance between primary tumor and metastasis (p = 0.002): E-cadherin expressed higher in the primary tumor than in the metastasis in 12 cases. We also found that increased Twist expression was correlated with decreased membranous E-cadherin expression (p = 0.009). Conclusions: Our data imply that Twist induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition in non-small-cell lung carcinoma by reducing E-cadherin, then promoting metastasis.

• 出版日期2011-6
• 单位山东大学