• Correlation Between Reduction of E-cadherin Expression and Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
  • Mehrdad Ostadpoor,1,* Majid Gholami-Ahangaran,2
    1. Graduated of Veterinary Medicine Faculty, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran
    2. Associate Professor, Group of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran


  • Introduction: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive subtype of breast cancer, is characterized by deficiency of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2). Identification of novel prognostic markers would allow a better characterization of this subgroup of breast cancers and aid in therapeutic decisions. Recently, a new panel of biomarkers was identified in order to provide both prognostic and predictive information in TNBC. Among them, some of the most promising markers are the Androgen receptor, E-Cadherin, and Ki-67 expression. E-cadherin is a transmembrane glycoprotein that mediates calcium-dependent cell-to-cell adhesion, fundamentally important to the generation of a polarized epithelial phenotype.
  • Methods: In the current study, keywords including E-cadherin, Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, and Progression were reviewed from the list of Mesh and other credible websites including PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar, and the data was organized. The searches comprised all published papers from 2013 to 2023. All of the full text was considered, and the papers manifested as only abstract were excluded. The full papers selected focused on the reduction of E-cadherin expression in triple-negative breast cancer only. A total of 50 papers were selected and studied in this review.
  • Results: Evidence suggests that collective invasion plays a major role in tumor progression. Numerous studies showed that E-Cadherin is involved in collective cell behavior that leads to invasion and metastasis. Moreover, experimental evidence indicates that the loss of E-cadherin expression is crucial for the acquisition of the invasive and metastatic capacities of epithelial tumors. Also, Downregulation of E-cadherin expression represents an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition hallmark and is associated with chemoresistance in TNBC. Articles showed the loss of E-cadherin expression has been found to be significantly associated with a lack of estrogen receptor expression, the expression of cytokeratins 5/6 and/or epidermal growth factor receptor, and a basal-like phenotype in breast cancer. Unfavorable prognosis significance of the loss of E-cadherin expression has been demonstrated in different studies. Thus, its absence is frequently associated with a large tumor size, metastatic lymph node status, local or regional tumoral recurrence, low grade of differentiation, advanced tumoral stage, and triple-negative subtypes.
  • Conclusion: The role of E-Cadherin in cancer progression is established and well-documented, represented by repression of E-Cadherin expression at the primary tumor site. E-Cadherin has been classified as a tumor suppressor and diminished E-Cadherin expression in epithelial cancer cells has been related to the process of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in multiple carcinomas, including breast cancer and to the acquisition of chemoresistance.
  • Keywords: E-cadherin, Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, Progression