Expression of cadherin and CSF dissemination in malignant astrocytic tumors

Cadherins are Ca²⁺-dependent cell adhesion molecules that play an important role in tissue construction and morphogenesis in multicellular organisms. Because in recent years there have been reports of cadherin involvement in tumor metastasis, we conducted an immunostain for E-cadherin and N-cadherin monoclonal antibodies in paraffin-embedded surgical specimens of primary and recurrent lesions in 13 cases of glioblastoma and nine cases of anaplastic astrocytoma. No expression of E-cadherin was detected in the tumor cells. On the other hand, expression of N-cadherin was observed in malignant astrocytic tumor cells, but the N-cadherin positive rate tended to be less at the time of recurrence. Decreased expression of N-cadherin was detected at the time of recurrence in 11 of the 13 cases in the glioblastoma group. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF ) dissemination and extracranial metastasis were observed in nine (81.8%) of these 11 patients. Therefore, we tried to analyze the clinical backgrounds and the N-cadherin positive rates by statistics. We concluded that decreased expression of N-cadherin at the time of recurrence correlates with dissemination in malignant astrocytic tumors. Received: 16 December 1998 / Accepted: 15 April 1999