Urticarial vasculitis presenting as erythema gyratum repens‐like eruption

© 2008 The Authors JEADV 2009, 23, 169–243 Journal compilation © 2008 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology complexes with the cytoplasmic domain of E-cadherin and desmoglein-3.5,6 Davis et al.7 and Xiao et al.8 reported that p120 catenin regulates expression levels of E-cadherin in epithelial cells and VE-cadherin in vascular endothelial cells, respectively, in 2003. In a variety of malignant tumours, including bladder, colon, renal and breast tumours, clinicopathological studies have demonstrated that loss or reduction of p120 catenin expression is commonly associated with high grade and advanced stage.9 In the absence of p120 catenin, cadherins become destabilized and targeted for degradation, but the precise mechanisms are not fully understood. Tumour cells observed in this case showed extensive decreases in p120 catenin and E-cadherin in immunoblot analysis, and were thus considered to display EMT. In addition, the histological changes associated with EMT suggested the acquisition of a higher invasive potential as extensive reductions in E-cadherin expression led to the loss of cell–cell adhesions. In conclusion, the present case showed for the first time that decreases in p120 catenin induced decreased amounts of Ecadherin in an actual clinical case, suggesting an association between a spindle change in the form of tumour cells and more aggressive behaviour.