title: Clinical significance of vimentin-positive gastric cancer cells.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Vimentin expression in epithelial cells is reported to be associated with the malignant phenotype of cancer cells in vitro. However, the clinical significance of vimentin expression in carcinomas is not well understood. The aim of this study was to clarify the significance of vimentin-positive gastric cancer (GC).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 265 GCs were examined by immunofluorescent staining with antibodies against vimentin and carcinoembryonic antigen. GCs were determined to be vimentin-positive when cells were positive for both vimentin and carcinoembryonic antigen staining.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 86 (32%) of 265 GCs were vimentin positive. There was a statistically significant correlation between vimentin-positive GCs and advanced clinical stage (p<0.001), macroscopic scirrhous-type (p < 0.001), histological diffuse-type (p < 0.001), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.008) and lymphatic invasion (p = 0.013). The prognosis of patients with vimentin-positive GCs was significantly (p < 0.001) worse than that with vimentin-negative GCs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Vimentin expression might contribute to the high invasive phenotype of GC, and may be a useful biomarker to determine the biological aggressiveness of GC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Institute of Geriatrics and Medical Science, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuhiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fuyuhiro
authors.forename: Masakazu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yashiro
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Noda
authors.forename: Shinichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kashiwagi
authors.forename: Junko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Matsuoka
authors.forename: Yosuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Doi
authors.forename: Yukihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Naoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: Masaichi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohira
authors.forename: Kosei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirakawa
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000096:biosynthesis; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D015996:Survival Rate; D014746:Vimentin / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D014746:Vimentin