Figure 1.

Expressions of ZEB1, E-cadherin, N-cadherin and β-catenin in tumor cells at the borders of tumor epithelium and stroma, in the vessels and in lymph nodes. At the interface of the tumor parenchyma and the mesenchyma (HE, A), intense positive expression of ZEB1 was found in the cell nuclei (B), along with definite loss of expression of E-cadherin (C) and β-catenin (E) in the cell membrane; in addition, up regulated expression of N-cadherin (D) was observed in the cytoplasm. The tumour thrombus in vessels (HE, F) (demonstrated by CD34 staining for the endothelial cells (G) showed the expression of ZEB1 in the cell nucleus (H), along with loss expression of E-cadherin (I) and β-catenin (J) in the membrane (I). Expression of ZEB1 (L) was downregulated in the metastatic lesions of lymph nodes (HE, K), and meanwhile the membranous expression of E-cadherin was regained to a degree (M).