Imunoexpressão de ciclooxigenase-2 (COX-2) e caderina-e no câncer gástrico : contribuição ao estudo da progressão tumoral-linfonodal

Abstract

Both COX-2 and E-Cadherin play important roles in physiological and pathological processes in the stomach, such as control of acid secretion, inflammation and cancer. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between COX-2 and E-Cadherin immunoexpression in human gastric adenocarcinomas and respective lymph node metastases and their possible action in tumoral progression. Tissue microarrays were prepared from paraffin embedded samples of 97 primary gastric cancers, included 36 with respective nodal metastases. Cases were classified according to Lauren’s classification as intestinal (n=40), diffuse (n=34), mixed (n=16) and undetermined (n=7). Immunoexpression of COX-2 was evaluated regarding intensity (0-absent; 1-mild; 2-moderate; 3-strong) and extension (0-negative or rare cells; 1-<25%; 2-25-50%; 3-50-75%; 4->75% immunoreactive neoplastic cells). A combined score was calculated (intensity x extension): 0-12. A cut-off of 6 was considered to classify COX-2 expression as low (<6) or high (≥6). E-Cadherin expression was evaluated according to the system proposed by Jawhari et al. (Gastroenterology, 1997) as abnormal patterns of expression: 0-no expression; 1-cytoplasmic expression; 2-heterogeneous expression, both membranous and cytoplasmic) and normal membranous pattern (3). Membranous (scores 2 and 3) and Non-membranous (scores 0 and 1) were too compared. Overall, COX-2 positive and abnormal E-Cadherin expression predominate in all types of primary gastric carcinomas. COX-2 expression was higher in lymph node metastases than in primary tumors, with a significant difference for diffuse carcinoma. A positive relationship was observed between E-Cadherin membranous expression and intestinal tumors, and absence of membranous expression and diffuse ones, which indicates the importance of E-Cadherin to gastric cancer differentiation. Granular (paranuclear) cytoplasmic immunostaining pattern was basically associated with cytoplasmic E-Cadherin expression while homogeneous pattern is frequently seen in cytoplasmic-membranous expression. Diffuse carcinomas show membranar expression more frequently in lymph nodes metastases than in gastric primary tumors in both isolated and grouped cells. The data suggest that mixed carcinoma is a distinct hystotype, based on its peculiar cytoplasmic expression of E-Cadherin shown here and other features of literature. There was no significant association linking COX-2 and E-Cadherin expression to other clinicopathological parameters. The data show that COX-2 and E-Cadherin are important proteins related to tumoral progression in gastric cancer.