Assessment of the molecular heterogeneity of E-cadherin expression in invasive lobular breast cancer

Mutations and loss of e-cadherin protein expression define the vast majority of invasive lobular carcinomas. In a subset of these cases heterogeneous expression of e-cadherin is observed either as wild-type (strong membranous) expression or aberrant expression (cytoplasmic expression). However, it is unclear as to whether the two components would be driven by distinct genetic or epigenetic alterations. Here separately analysed nine invasive lobular carcinomas with heterogeneous e-cadherin expression and identified global similarities in the lobular and ductal components.