title: Cytokeratin and vimentin expression in breast cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The transition from epithelial keratin to mesenchymal vimentin expression marks an important step in the malignant progression of breast cancer. This study analyzed the clinical significance of cytokeratin and vimentin in patients with breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Expression of cytokeratin and vimentin was evaluated by immunohistochemistry on paraffin-embedded tissue sections of patients with breast cancer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Loss of cytokeratin was seen in 11% of the patients. A clearer trend towards loss of cytokeratin was observed in patients with stage IV disease and PR negativity. Weak cytokeratin expression was present in patients who developed recurrence or metastatic disease. Loss of cytokeratin was associated with reduced overall survival in univariate and multivariate analysis, gain of vimentin expression was seen in 57% of breast carcinoma patients. It was higher in patients with lymph node positivity, advanced stage, HER2 positivity, and disease recurrence or metastasis. Multivariate survival analysis indicated that gain of vimentin expression was associated with reduced relapse-free survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Loss of cytokeratin and gain of vimentin expression are indicators of biologically aggressive breast carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Division of Immunohistochemistry and Flow Cytometry, The Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute, Asarwa, Ahmedabad, India. ihcgcri@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Hemangini H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Vora
authors.forename: Nupur A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Kruti N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Rajvik
authors.forename: Shalvi V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: Birwa V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Brahmbhatt
authors.forename: Manoj J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: Shilin N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Shukla
authors.forename: Pankaj M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Shah
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007633:Keratins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000378:metabolism; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014746:Vimentin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D007633:Keratins; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D014746:Vimentin; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human