The correlation between expression of N-cadherin and cadherin-11, and both cancer invasion and metastasis in prostate cancer

2002 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 13671636
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Urology
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: KYOICHI Tomita The University of Tokyo, The University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine, Lecturer (20272578)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): HORIE Shigeo The University of Tokyo, Faculty of Medicine, Lecturer (40190243) ; ARUGA Seiji The University of Tokyo, Faculty of Medicine, Research Associate (90322057) ; KITAMURA Tadaichi The University of Tokyo, Faculty of Medicine, Professor (70010551)
• Project Period (FY): 2001 – 2002
• Keywords: prostate cancer / N-cadherin / cadherin-11 / invasion / metastais

Research Abstract

We report on the interaction of both N-cadherin and cadherin-11 between cultured prostate cancer cells and cultured stroma cells and the immunohistochemical analysis of the expression of N-cadherin and cadherin-11 in human prostate cancer specimens. N-cadherin and cadherin-11 expression was very weak in only cultured stroma cells. However, these cadherins expression was increased in stroma cells closed cancer cells when both PC3 transfected αN-catenin and stroma cells were simultaneously cultured. N-cadherin and cadherin-11 expression was very weak in normal prostate tissue ; in prostatic cancer, N-cadherin was found to be expressed in the poorly differentiated areas, which show mainly aberrant or negative E-cadherin staining. Cadherin-11 is expressed in the stroma of all prostatic tumors, in the area where stromal and epithelial cells are found. In addition, cadherin-11 is also expressed in a dotted pattern or at the membrane of the epithelial cells of high-grade cancers. Confocal scanning laser microscopy clearly illustrates the localization of N-cadherin and cadherin-11 expression. The induced expression of N-cadherin and cadherin-11 in the cancer cells was significantly correlated with an increasing Gleason score. There was a significant correlation between decreased expression of E-cadherin and increased expression of both N-cadherin and cadherin-11. These data raise the possibility that cadherin switching plays an important role in prostate cancer invasion and metastasis.