Background: E-Cadherin is a subclass of the cadherin family that plays a major role in the maintenance of intercellular junctions in normal epithelium. Decreased expression of E- cadherin might be closely related to invasiveness and dedifferentiation in human cancers. This study is aimed at investigating the clinicopathological significance of E- cadherin expression and its impact on the prognosis in surgically resected non- small-cell lung cancer patients. Methods: Using immunohistochemical staining, the expression of E-cadherin was studied in 207 surgically resected lung cancer specimens from January 1990 through December 1994. The clinicopathological data and survival status were recorded and analysed against the E-cadherin expression level in each tumor. Results: E -cadherin expression was detected in 122 of the 207 lung tumors (59.0%), and the expression was significantly lower in tumors with poor differentiation (p40%) and lower (40 %) significantly had a favorable prognosis. ; 醫學系外科 ; 醫學系 ; 醫學院 ; 期刊論文