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Although impaired expression of E-cadherin (E-cad) is frequently observed in tumors with aggressive histopathologic characteristics, the correlation between alpha-catenin (alpha-cat) expression and the clinicopathologic features of early gastric cancer have not been fully examined. In this study, we evaluated the expression of E-cad and alpha-cat by early gastric carcinomas, and examined the relationships between this expression and various clinicopathologic characteristics. A total of 69 specimens obtained from surgery were studied by immunohistochemistry. Reduced expression of E-cad and alpha-cat were found in 53.6% and 65.2% of the tumors, respectively, and a significant correlation was observed between the decreased expression of E-cad or alpha-cat and tumor histology, the quantity of stroma, and the infiltration pattern of the tumor. The reduced expression of alpha-cat correlated more strongly with these features than E-cadherin expression. Furthermore, alpha-cat expression was also related to the lymph node metastasis of tumors. The expression of E-cad or alpha-cat in the primary tumor was consistent with the expression of tumor cells that invaded the lymphatic vessels, but discordant with staining in the metastasized lymph nodes. In some cases, as the tumor invaded deeper, the expression of E-cad or alpha-cat changed from preserved to reduced. Our observations suggest that the reduced expression of E-cad or alpha-cat may be involved in the initial steps leading to the invasion and metastasis of early gastric cancer.

Plakoglobin is a member of a protein family with a repeating amino acid motif called the armadillo repeat, and is a cytoplasmic protein found in both adherens junctions and desmosomes. Little is known about its function, but it has been shown to form distinct complexes with cadherins or desmosomal cadherins. Also, plakoglobin has been shown to form a complex with APC, a tumor suppressor gene product. We have isolated a cDNA clone encoding plakoglobin by means of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from a human transitional carcinoma cell line. The cDNA has the same nucleotide sequence as the previously published one [Franke et al. (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86, 4027-4031], except that it has a deletion of 120 bp. The deleted sequence encodes the fourth armadillo repeat. Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA revealed that there is a single copy of the plakoglobin gene per haploid genome. Cloning and sequencing of a genomic DNA fragment containing the 120-bp deletion and the surrounding sequences revealed that these sequences are encoded by a single exon sequence. PCR amplification of the genomic DNA fragment of the corresponding region excluded the possible presence of the 120-bp deletion in the gene. Therefore the variant form is most likely derived through alternative splicing of precursor RNA transcripts in an exon sequence.