Saudi Journal of Pathology and Microbiology (SJPM)
Volume-4 | Issue-03 | 268-273
Original Research Article
Evaluation of E-Cadherin and Vimentin Expression as Prognostic Markers for Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Tumor Aggressiveness in Breast Cancer – Sudan
Dr. Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Mohammed Awad Elkareem Abdelgadir Elzaki Abdelgadir, Elkhawad Eisa Abdelrahman
Published : March 31, 2019
Abstract
This is a prospective laboratory-based study, conducted at Rahma medical centre, Khartoum, during the period from
March to July 2018. The study aims to evaluate the expression of E-cadherin and Vimentin as prognostic markers for
epithelial- mesenchymal transition and tumour aggressiveness in breast cancer. Fifty six paraffin blocks are collected
from archive for women previously diagnosed as breast cancer. Tissue microarrays are prepared, and then stained by
immunohistochemistry method. The data obtained was analyzed using SPSS program version 22.0. The age of patients
ranged between 30 to 80 years with a mean of 51.1. The histopathological diagnosis reveals that the invasive ductal
carcinoma is 71.4%, while medullary carcinoma and mucinous carcinoma are 25% and 3.6% respectively. The result of
histological grade shows, grade I is 10.7%, grade II is 35.7% and 53.6% for grade III. The study shows E-cadherin
expression is negative in 12.5%, weakly expressed in 32.1%, moderately expressed in 48.2% and strongly expressed in
7.1%. The study reveals a significant correlation between E- cadherin expression with ages and histological grades
(p.value= 0.028 – 0.027) respectively. Vimentin expression is negative in 1.8%, weakly expressed in 51.8%, moderately
expressed in 46.4%. This results show a significant correlation between Vimentin expression with ages and histological
types (p.value= 0.016 – 0.004) respectively. The study reveals an inverse correlation between E-cadherin and Vimentin (r
= -0.389) with a significant correlation (p.value= 0.002). The study concludes that, decreased expression of E-cadherin
and increased expression of Vimentin are associated with epithelial- mesenchymal transition and breast carcinoma
aggressiveness.