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

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.

Automated summary

The study found that the immune tumor microenvironment in liver metastases is influenced by the activation status of beta-catenin in the tumor. Results showed that colorectal primary tumors had the largest proportion of metastatic carcinoma with beta-catenin overexpression. Overexpression of beta-catenin was associated with lower CD8 count in the tumor region, indicating suppression of CD8 count is related to activated Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in the metastatic tumor.