대한대장항문학회

<b>Purpose:</b> We investigated whether the loss of E-cadherin function was related to the peritoneal seeding in colorectal carcinomas.<br><br><b>Methods:</b> Eleven patients who had undergone a palliative resection for a colorectal carcinoma, with peritoneal seeding, were enrolled onto the study. The primary tumors and seeding nodules were analyzed with regarded to mutations in the<br>expressions of the CDH1 and protein of E-cadherin using SSCP, direct sequencing and immunohistochemical staining.<br><br><b>Results:</b> In the primary tumors, the E-cadherin was normally expressed in 9 of the 11 cases, with 2 cases showing a reduced expression. In the seeding nodules, the E-cadherin was normally expressed in 6 of the 11 cases, with 5 cases showing<br>a<br>reduced expression. The degree of E-cadherin expression in the seeding nodules was significantly decreased comparing to that in the primary tumors (P＜0.001). In the mutational analysis, there were no pathogenic mutations in either the primary<br>tumors or<br>the seeding nodules, with the exception of two silent changes in the ctgggt＞ctaggt (intron 2) and GTG＞GTA (codon 782).<br><br><b>Conclusion:</b> The loss of E-cadherin expression might be related to peritoneal seeding. The functional derangement of E-cadherin in peritoneal seeding could possibly be caused by a mechanism, such as promoter methylation, rather than the<br>mutation<br>of the CDH1.<br>