N-Cadherin Correlates with β-Catenin Expression Across the Spectrum of Mucinous Ovarian Tumors

Gondo Mastutik; Alphania Rahniayu; Anny Setijo Rahaju; Aditya Sita Sari; Lukman Nur Rahman; Heru Fajar Trianto; Radianto Chandra Wijaya Oey

doi:10.31557/APJCB.2026.11.3.771

Authors

Gondo Mastutik Department of Anatomical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia.
Alphania Rahniayu Department of Anatomical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia. Department of Anatomical Pathology, Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5059-7875
Anny Setijo Rahaju Department of Anatomical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia. Department of Anatomical Pathology, Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8392-3350
Aditya Sita Sari Department of Anatomical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia. https://orcid.org/0009-0009-3811-930X
Lukman Nur Rahman Master Program of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia. https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7590-7654
Heru Fajar Trianto Department of Anatomical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Tanjungpura, Pontianak, Indonesia. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1083-0078
Radianto Chandra Wijaya Oey Department of Anatomical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia. https://orcid.org/0009-0005-7889-4723

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31557/APJCB.2026.11.3.771

Keywords:

cancer, mucinous ovarian carcinoma, diagnostic markers, N-Cadherin, β-Catenin

Abstract

Background: This study evaluates differences in N-cadherin and β-catenin expression, as well as their correlation across the histopathological spectrum of mucinous ovarian tumors, including cystadenomas, borderline tumors, and carcinomas.

Methods: A cross-sectional analytical observational study was performed using 60 paraffin-embedded tissue samples from patients diagnosed with mucinous ovarian tumors (MOTs). These comprised mucinous cystadenoma (MC), mucinous borderline tumor (MB), low-grade mucinous ovarian carcinoma (MOC-LG), and high-grade mucinous ovarian carcinoma (MOC-HG). Immunohistochemical staining was then performed to evaluate N-cadherin and β-catenin expression, which was analyzed according to the H-score system.

Results: The results demonstrated that N-cadherin expression differed significantly across the MOTs spectrum, with significant pairwise differences between MC and MOC-LG, MC and MOC-HG, and MB and MOC-HG. β-catenin expression also varied significantly across tumor types, with significant differences between MC and MOC-LG (p = 0.001), MC and MOC-HG, MB and MOC-LG, and MB and MOC-HG. In addition, a positive correlation was observed between N-cadherin expression and the MOTs spectrum (r = 0.422) as well as between β-catenin expression and the MOTs spectrum (r = 0.603). N-cadherin expression showed a significant positive correlation with β-catenin expression across the MOTs spectrum (r = 0.487).

Conclusion: N-cadherin was significantly correlated with β-catenin across the MOTs spectrum. These results suggested that N-cadherin and β-catenin may serve as potential histopathological diagnostic markers for distinguishing among the benign, borderline, and malignant spectra of MOTs and provide a molecular basis for further investigation into their roles in cancer invasion and metastasis.