Korean J Pathol.  1998 Sep;32(9):663-669.

Relationship between Vimentin Expression and Progression of Uterine Cervix Epithelial Neoplasms

• Lim SC
• Kee KH
• Park HJ

Abstract

Vimentin is an intermediate filament protein normally expressed in mesenchymal cells, but the evidence of the aberrant expression of vimentin in epithelial cancer cells suggests that the vimentin expression might be related to local invasiveness and metastatic potential. There have been a few previous studies on the vimentin expression in human cervical carcinogenesis using in vivo and in vitro models. We examined the immunohistochemical vimentin expression in various squamous epithelial neoplasms of the uterine cervix, including the cervical intraepithelial neoplasia group (n=25), the microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma group (n=15), the invasive squamous cell carcinoma group (n=15) and the metastatic squamous cell carcinoma group (n=8). Vimentin positivity was significantly higher in the invasive than in the intraepithelial group, and in the cases with lymph node metastasis than in those without metastasis, suggesting a relationship between the vimentin expression and progression of the uterine cervical epithelial tumors.

Keyword

Uterine cervix; Squamous cell carcinoma; Vimentin; Tumor progression; Metastasis

MeSH Terms

Carcinogenesis
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell
Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia
Cervix Uteri*
Female
Humans
Intermediate Filaments
Lymph Nodes
Neoplasm Metastasis
Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial*
Vimentin*
Vimentin