Tiemo S Gerber, Benjamin Goeppert, Anne Hausen, Hagen R Witzel, Fabian Bartsch, Mario Schindeldecker, Lisa-Katharina Gröger, Dirk A Ridder, Oscar Cahyadi, Irene Esposito, Matthias M Gaida, Peter Schirmacher, Peter R Galle, Hauke Lang, Wilfried Roth, Beate K Straub
Carcinomas of the pancreatobiliary system confer an especially unfavorable prognosis. The differential diagnosis of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) and its subtypes versus liver metastasis of ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas (PDAC) is clinically important to allow the best possible therapy. We could previously show that E-cadherin and N-cadherin, transmembrane glycoproteins of adherens junctions, are characteristic features of hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. We therefore analyzed E-cadherin and N-cadherin in the embryonally related epithelia of the bile duct and pancreas, as well as in 312 iCCAs, 513 carcinomas of the extrahepatic bile ducts, 228 gallbladder carcinomas, 131 PDACs, and precursor lesions, with immunohistochemistry combined with image analysis, fluorescence microscopy, and immunoblots...
June 23, 2022: Cancers