Is vimentin positive cancer?
While most carcinomas are negative for vimentin, mammary analog secretory carcinoma, most endometrial carcinomas and most renal cell carcinomas, except for chromophobe renal cell carcinoma, are positive for vimentin.
What does vimentin positive mean?
Mesenchymal and endothelial cells usually stain vimentin positive and thus act as a measure of internal quality control in immunoreactivity. Absence of immunostaining in these areas often indicates that there is significant damage to tissue antigens and loss of structural architecture.
What tumors are vimentin positive?
Vimentin is overexpressed in various epithelial cancers, including prostate cancer, gastrointestinal tumors, tumors of the central nervous system, breast cancer, malignant melanoma, and lung cancer.
Is vimentin positive in melanoma?
Six malignant melanomas have been examined for the type of intermediate filament they contain. All six cases showed positive staining of intermediate filaments with antibodies to vimentin, with cells containing large numbers of melanosomes being stained less strongly in general.
Where is vimentin found in the body?
Vimentin is an intermediate filament protein found in many types of immature cells throughout the CNS and body, including primitive neuroepithelial cells, but also is expressed in a few specific types of mature cells in the CNS: endothelial cells of blood vessels, smooth vascular musculature, fibroblasts.
Where is vimentin in the cell?
Vimentin IFs are found in the cytoplasm of mesenchymal cells, where it functions to maintain the cyto-architecture and tissue integrity (4). Vimentin is known to interact with a large number of proteins and participates in various cellular functions (few of the interactors are summarized in Table 1).
What is vimentin tumor?
Vimentin (VIM) is a type III intermediate filament that maintains cell integrity, and is involved in cell migration, motility and adhesion. When overexpressed in solid cancers, vimentin drives epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and ultimately, metastasis.
What is vimentin marker for?
Vimentin is widely expressed and highly conserved and is constitutively expressed in mesenchymal cells. Because of this, Vimentin is often used as a marker of mesenchymally-derived cells or cells undergoing an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) during both normal development and metastatic progression.