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

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 beta-catenin activation status of the tumor. To this end, we analyzed CD8 and FoxP3 immunohistochemical expression against beta-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 beta-catenin overexpression. Intra-tumoral CD8 count was lower and FoxP3 count was higher when compared with the non-tumoral liver parenchyma. beta-catenin overexpression was associated with a lower CD8 count in the tumor region (p = 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/beta-catenin signaling in the metastatic tumor.<br></p>