Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression of Snail and E-cadherin（E-cad）in metaplastic breast cancer（MBC）tissues as well as their relationship with clinicopathological parameters. Methods The expression of Snail and Ecad in 58 cases of MBC were detected by immunohistochemical SP method. The corresponding clinical data were collected and then the relationship of Snail，E-cad expression and the pathological parameters of MBC were analyzed. The relationship between the Snail，E-cad expression and recurrence／metastasis were analyzed according to the follow-up data. Results In these 58 MBC patients，Snail was expressed in 45 cases（77.6％）and E-cad was expressed in 28 cases（48.3％）. The expression of Snail was associated with clinical stage，lymph node metastasis and ER expression（P＜0.05）. The expression of E-cad was associated with histological grade and lymph node metastasis（P＜0.05）. The two proteins had no relationchip with age, tumor size, menopausal status, HER-2 expression and pathological types（P＞0.05）. The expression of Snail and Ecadherin had a negative association （r=-0.308，P=0.019）. In MBC，both of them had relationship with local recurrence and distant metastasis（P＜0.05）.
Conclusion Snail and E-cadherin may have the ability to recognize the tent of malignancy and invasion of MBC，which may be potential treatment target in MBC.