AUTHOR=Au Kwan-Yung , Lo Regina 

TITLE=An Immunohistochemical Study of β-catenin Expression and Immune Cell Population in Metastatic Carcinoma to the Liver

JOURNAL=Pathology and Oncology Research

VOLUME=27

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.por-journal.com/journals/pathology-and-oncology-research/articles/10.3389/pore.2021.1609752

DOI=10.3389/pore.2021.1609752

ISSN=1532-2807

ABSTRACT=<p>The liver is the commonest site of cancer metastasis. In this study, we asked whether the immune tumor microenvironment in liver metastases was governed by the β-catenin activation status of the tumor. To this end, we analyzed CD8 and FoxP3 immunohistochemical expression against β-catenin expression status of the tumor in a cohort of 52 liver samples with metastatic carcinoma. The results showed that colorectal primary constituted the largest proportion of metastatic carcinoma showing β-catenin overexpression. Intra-tumoral CD8 count was lower and FoxP3 count was higher when compared with the non-tumoral liver parenchyma. β-catenin overexpression was associated with a lower CD8 count in the tumor region (<italic>p</italic> = 0.003). In summary, our findings are in support of an altered immune tumor microenvironment vs. the non-tumor liver tissues in the metastatic site. Suppression of CD8 count was associated with activated Wnt/β-catenin signaling in the metastatic tumor.</p>