Your patient is a 49-year-old woman who has experienced a 2-year history of recurrent burning chest pain. Your previously prescribed medications and antacids have provided her with minimal relief. No physical abnormalities are noted during this visit. You perform an upper endoscopy and take a biopsy specimen. Histological examination of the biopsy shows a microinvasive adenocarcinoma arising from intestinal metaplasia in the distal portion of the esophagus. The most likely cause of the loss of cohesion of the neoplastic epithelial cells in this lesion is a decrease in the expression of which of the following molecules?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

E-cadherin is a cell adhesion molecule that helps maintain epithelial cell cohesion. A decrease in E-cadherin expression is commonly associated with the loss of cell cohesion in epithelial cancers, facilitating invasion and metastasis. E-cadherin is an epithelial cell adhesion molecule whose expression is often downregulated during carcinoma progression and metastatic spread of tumors. Although many other cell adhesion molecules can play a role in cancer cell migration away from a primary tumor, adenocarcinomas are epithelial in origin and thus, E-cadherin is the most likely molecule whose expression is altered in this patient.

Your Patient Is a 49-Year-Old Woman Who Has Experienced a 2-Year