N-Cadherin Expression with Metastasis of Neck Lymph Nodes in Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Muhtarum Yusuf,1,2 Yogi Putra Adhi Pradana,1,2 Rosydiah Rahmawati,1,2 Farhat Farhat,3 Etty Hary Kusumastuti,2,4 Jeffi Wahyu Ekoputro5 1Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head, and Neck Surgery, Airlangga University, Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia; 2Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head, and Neck Surgery, Dr. Soetomo General Teaching Hospital, Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia; 3Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head, and Neck Surgery, Sumatera Utara University, Medan, North Sumatera, Indonesia; 4Department of Pathology Anatomy, Airlangga University, Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia; 5Muhammadiyah Surabaya University, Surabaya, East Java, 60113, IndonesiaCorrespondence: Muhtarum Yusuf, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head, and Neck Surgery, Airlangga University, Jl. Mayjend Prof. Dr. Moestopo No. 6-8, Surabaya, Jawa Timur, 60285, 60286, Indonesia, Tel +62 031 5501078, Email muhtarum.yusuf@fk.unair.ac.idBackground: Lymph node (LN) metastases were one characteristic of negative progress of NPC patient despite its advanced therapeutic approaches. One mechanism for the occurrence of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT)-mediated metastases is by increasing N-cadherin expression. The purpose of this research is to determine investigating N-cadherin expression against metastatic LN in NPC cases.Methods: Samples were taken by unproportionate stratified random sampling. N-cadherin expression was examined using immunohistochemistry methods. N-cadherin expression was assessed visually by binocular light microscopy. We analyzed these data using Mann–Whitney U-test to examine N-cadherin expression and lymph node metastases.Results: A strong expression was found in N3 group by 63.6%; 27.3% in the N2 group and 9.1% in the N1 group. In patients with NPC N0 or without lymph node metastases, N-cadherin expression is 0%. The expression of N-cadherin is indeed an indicator of the occurrence of lymph node metastases in NPC with a statistically significant analysis of p = 0.026 (p < 0.05).Conclusion: There were correlations between N-cadherin expression and lymph node metastasis on NPC patients.Keywords: N-cadherin, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, cancer, immunohistochemistry