The extracellular domain of E cadherin linked to invasiveness in colorectal cancer: a new resistance and relapses monitoring serum-bio marker?

Multiple studies have attempted to demonstrate the interest of the cell adhesion marker, E cadherin, as a diagnostic and prognosis marker in colorectal cancer (CRC). However, it was considered non specific. Studies were carried out with CRC cell lines and patients' cohort operated for CRC. The expression of E cadherin was studied after 5 fluorouracil (5FU) treatment and correlated to CRC relapse, chemo-resistance and survival. In CRC cell lines derived from high tumor stages, extracellular domain of E cadherin expression decreased after 5FU treatment whereas it increased in supernatants. Interestingly, only specific cleaved forms at 55 kDa of E cadherin were detected in supernatants. In CRC surgical patients, more importantly concerning extracellular E cadherin domain, a decreased expression was observed in tissues in function of CRC stages whereas an increased expression was found in sera. Moreover, there is an increasing trend of survival with weak serum E cadherin secretion, reinforcing the implication of this protein in CRC evolution. The extracellular domain can be defined as a 5FU resistance marker and allow CRC monitoring.