Expression of Cadherin-11(CDH-11) Immunohistochemical marker in Gastric Cancer and its Correlation with the Clinicopathological Parameters – A Pilot Study

Gastric carcinoma is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and the leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Predictive biomarkers of the clinical outcome remain elusive. Cadherin -11 (CDH-11) plays key role in the movement of neural crest cells and is involved in bone maintenance and metabolism and also in tumour immune escape. Dysregulation of CDH-11 contributes to many pathologic processes, such as inflammation, fibrosis, cellular migration, invasion, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and carcinogenesis. Thus, it could be thought as a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target. The study aimed to assess CDH-11 expression in gastric cancer and correlate the findings with the clinicopathological parameters. IHC staining was done on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumour sections of 27 patients with gastric cancer. Pylorus was the most common tumour site observed. 66% of the cases were intestinal-type adenocarcinoma and 34% were poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with signet ring cell morphology. Lymphovascular and Perineural invasion was noted in 13 and 12 cases respectively. None of the cases had distant metastasis. Twelve cases (44%) showed strong nuclear positivity for CDH-11. 5 cases (18%) showed cytoplasmic expression. Ten cases (37%) were negative for CDH-11 expression. The statistical analysis of this pilot study throws insight into the expression of CDH11 and its association with various clinical parameters. CDH-11 expression was positive in the poorly differentiated tumors especially in tumours with lymphovascular invasion. This finding indicates the possible role of CDH11 as a predictive marker. However, further studies with a larger sample size are warranted to elaborate on the clinical implication of expressions of CDH11 thoroughly.