Reduced E-cadherin facilitates renal cell carcinoma progression by WNT/β-catenin signaling activation

// Xinqi Zhang 1 , Mingxi Yang 2 , Hua Shi 2 , Jianxin Hu 2 , Yuanlin Wang 2 , Zhaolin Sun 2 , Shuxiong Xu 2 1 Emergency Department, General Hospital of Jinan Military Area, Jinan, Shandong, 250031, China 2 Department of Urology, Guizhou Provincial People’s Hospital Affiliated to Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, Guizhou, 550002, China Correspondence to: Shuxiong Xu, email: xushuxong123@sina.com Keywords: renal cell carcinoma, E-cadherin, β-catenin, immunohistochemistry (IHC) Received: September 26, 2016 Accepted: January 16, 2017 Published: February 15, 2017 ABSTRACT Reduced expression of E-cadherin was observed in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, its potential clinical value and correlation with WNT/β-catenin signaling in RCC progression was still unclear. Immunohistochemical staining was performed in RCC tissue microarray to examine the expression status and prognosis value of E-cadherin and β-catenin. The potential role of E-cadherin in β-catenin translocation was analyzed with immunobloting assays. A significant negative correlation was observed between E-cadherin and β-catenin expression in RCC tissues. E-cadherin inhibits β-catenin translocation from membrane to cytoplasm in RCC tissues, which was an important step for WNT/β-catenin signaling. Reduced E-cadherin expression was associated with poor prognosis. More importantly, E-cadherin-/β-catenin + was an independent detrimental factor for survival estimation of RCC patients. Reduced E-cadherin expression in RCC promoted cancer progression via WNT/β-catenin signaling pathway activation. E-cadherin/β-catenin provides a valuable prognosis marker for RCC, which may be an effective target for RCC therapy.