Prognostic value of E-Cadherin and its tumor suppressor role in Saudi women with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer

The extracellular matrix (ECM) disruption and cytoskeleton reorganization are crucial events in tumor proliferation and invasion. E-Cadherin (E-CAD) is a member of cell adhesion molecules involved in cell-cell junctions and ECM stability. The loss of E-CAD expression is associated with cancer progression and metastasis. This retrospective study aimed to assess E-CAD protein expression in ovarian cancer (OC) tissues and to evaluate its prognostic value. Patients and Methods: 143 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) blocks of primary advanced stages OC were retrieved and used to construct Tissue microarrays. Automated immunohistochemistry technique was performed to evaluate E-CAD protein expression patterns in OC. Results: E-CAD protein expression was significantly correlated with OC histological subtype (p < 0.0001), while borderline significant correlations were observed with both tumor grade (p = 0.06) and stage (p = 0.07). Interestingly, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that OC patients with membranous E-CAD expression survived longer than those with no E-CAD expression mainly those at advanced stages (p < 0.009). Further in silico analysis confirms the key roles of E-CAD in OC molecular functions. Conclusion: we reported a prognosis value of membranous E-CAD in advanced stage OC patients. Further validation using larger cohorts is recommended to extract clinically relevant outcomes towards better OC management and individualized oncology.