Mutations in β-catenin and APC genes are uncommon in esophageal and esophagogastric junction adenocarcinomas

Abstract

β-catenin plays important roles in both intercellular adhesion and signal transduction. Mutations in the β-catenin or adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene can alter the degradation of β-catenin and cause aberrant accumulation of β-catenin result in increased transcription of target genes. The dys-regulated APC/β-catenin pathway has been recently discovered as an important mechanism of tumorigenesis in various cancers, but its role in esophageal adenocarcinornas is not clear. Therefore, we studied the β-catenin gene mutation, allelic loss of chromosome 5q, and APC gene mutation in esophageal and esophagogastric junction adenocarcinomas. Two (2%) somatic mutations in exon 3 of the β-catenin gene, encompassing the region for glycogen synthase kinase-3β phosphorylation, were detected from 109 adenocarcinornas. Chromosomal allelic loss on 5q was frequent in 45.3% (44/97) of tumors. Only one missense mutation in the mutation cluster region of the APC gene was detected from 38 esophageal and esophagogastric junction adenocarcinomas with the 5q allelic loss. Our results based on partial screening mutational analyses indicate that mutations of APC/β-catenin pathway, unlike in colorectal carcinoma, involve only a small subset of esophageal and esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma.