Vimentin

Vimentin has a molecular weight of 57 kD and is considered the "primordial" of the intermediate filaments. It is the most widely distributed intermediate filament, being expressed in all mesenchymal cells and is coexpressed with cytokeratin by many epithelial cells and tumours.

Immunohistochemical expression

Breast, ductal carcinoma

7/11926, 9/10727

Breast, lobular carcinoma

2/1026

Pulmonary adenocarcinomas

5/3526

Gastric carcinomas

0/3926

Colonic carcinoma

0/2526, 2/9427

Pancreatic carcinoma

2/2626

Ovarian carcinoma

11/2926, 29/8627

Renal carcinomas

42/4526

   
   

Diagnostic utility

 

adenocarcinoma

mesothelioma

Churg 19858

0/5

5/8

Jasani 198510

11/24

33/44

Mullink 1986

4/8

11/12

Pfaltz 198711

3/22

8/24

Ordonez 198912

3/23, 0/23

5/19

Chenard-Neu 199013

2/20

8/14

Wick 199014

9/52

21/51

Wirth 199115

0/20

29/36

Gaffey 199225

not studied

35/49

Brown 199316

20/103

22/34

Moch 199317

4/24

26/27

Dejmek 199418

1/43

50/93

Dejmek 19975

1/43

60/110

Riera 199719

66/211

46/57

Chenard-Neu 199820

10/30

28/28

Garcia-Prats 199821

1/18

35/40

Brockstedt 20001

8/57

77/119

Dejmek 2000 (cytospin preparations of pleural fluids)22

25/49

26/33

Roberts 20012

3/18

30/108

Gonzalez-Lois 20013

6/15

42/42

Kayser 20014

68/146

98/118

Davidson 2001 (cell blocks of serous fluids)23

32/98

9/12

Ordonez 200324

19/50

33/60

Overall

28% (295/1036)

66% (667/1028)

A systematic review of seventeen studies (consisting of 773 epithelioid mesotheliomas and 815 pulmonary adenocarcinomas) reported sensitivities and specificities of vimentin for epithelioid mesothelioma of 62% and 75%28.

References

1 Brockstedt U, Gulyas M, Dobra K. An optimized batter of eight antibodies that can distingusih most cases of epithelial mesothelioma form adenocarcinoma. Am J Clin Pathol 2000;114:203-9.

2 Harper CM. Evaluation of a commercially available immunohistochemical diagnostic panel for malignant mesothelioma. J Pathol 2001:193(suppl):39A.

3 Gonzalez-Lois, C., Ballestin, C., Sotelo, M. T., Lopez-Rios, F., Garcia-Prats, M. D., Villena, V. Combined use of novel epithelial (MOC-31) and mesothelial (HBME-1) immunohistochemical markers for optimal first line diagnostic distinction between mesothelioma and metastatic carcinoma in pleura. Histopathology 2001;38:528-34.

4 K Kayser et al. Glyco- and immunohistochemical refinement of the differential diagnosis between mesothelioma and metastatic carcinoma and survival analysis of patients. J Pathol 2001;193:175-180.

5 Dejmek, A., Brockstedt, U., Hjerpe, A. Optimization of a battery using nine immunocytochemical variables for distinguishing between epithelial mesothelioma and adenocarcinoma. Apmis 1997;105:889-94.Dejmek, A., Brockstedt, U., Hjerpe, A. Optimization of a battery using nine immunocytochemical variables for distinguishing between epithelial mesothelioma and adenocarcinoma. Apmis 1997;105:889-94.

6 Azumi, N., Battifora, H. The distribution of vimentin and keratin in epithelial and nonepithelial neoplasms. A comprehensive immunohistochemical study on formalin- and alcohol-fixed tumors. Am J Clin Pathol 1987;88:286-96.

7 Diagnostic Immunohistochemistry edited by Professor D. J. Dabbs, page 63.

8 Churg, A. (1985). "Immunohistochemical staining for vimentin and keratin in malignant mesothelioma." Am J Surg Pathol 9(5): 360-5.

9 Jasani, B., R. E. Edwards, et al. (1985). "The use of vimentin antibodies in the diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma." Virchows Arch A Pathol Anat Histopathol 406(4): 441-8.

10 Mullink, H., S. C. Henzen-Logmans, et al. (1986). "Simultaneous immunoenzyme staining of vimentin and cytokeratins with monoclonal antibodies as an aid in the differential diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma from pulmonary adenocarcinoma." Virchows Arch B Cell Pathol Incl Mol Pathol 52(1): 55-65.

11 Pfaltz, M., B. Odermatt, et al. (1987). "Immunohistochemistry in the diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma." Virchows Arch A Pathol Anat Histopathol 411(4): 387-93.

12 Ordonez, N. G. (1989). "The immunohistochemical diagnosis of mesothelioma. Differentiation of mesothelioma and lung adenocarcinoma." Am J Surg Pathol 13(4): 276-91.

13 Chenard-Neu, M. P., J. P. Bellocq, et al. (1990). "[Malignant mesothelioma of the pleura. Analysis of its immunohistochemical aspects]." Ann Pathol 10(1): 20-7.

14 Wick, M. R., T. Loy, et al. (1990). "Malignant epithelioid pleural mesothelioma versus peripheral pulmonary adenocarcinoma: a histochemical, ultrastructural, and immunohistologic study of 103 cases." Hum Pathol 21(7): 759-66.

15 Wirth, P. R., J. Legier, et al. (1991). "Immunohistochemical evaluation of seven monoclonal antibodies for differentiation of pleural mesothelioma from lung adenocarcinoma." Cancer 67(3): 655-62.

16 Brown, R. W., G. M. Clark, et al. (1993). "Multiple-marker immunohistochemical phenotypes distinguishing malignant pleural mesothelioma from pulmonary adenocarcinoma [see comments]." Hum Pathol 24(4): 347-54.

17 Moch, H., M. Oberholzer, et al. (1993). "Diagnostic tools for differentiating between pleural mesothelioma and lung adenocarcinoma in paraffin embedded tissue. Part I: Immunohistochemical findings." Virchows Arch A Pathol Anat Histopathol 423(1): 19-27.

18 Dejmek, A. and A. Hjerpe (1994). "Immunohistochemical reactivity in mesothelioma and adenocarcinoma: a stepwise logistic regression analysis." Apmis 102(4): 255-64.

19 Riera, J. R., C. Astengo-Osuna, et al. (1997). "The immunohistochemical diagnostic panel for epithelial mesothelioma: a reevaluation after heat-induced epitope retrieval [see comments]." Am J Surg Pathol 21(12): 1409-19.

20 Chenard-Neu, M. P., A. Kabou, et al. (1998). "[Immunohistochemistry in the differential diagnosis of mesothelioma and adenocarcinoma. Evaluation of 5 new antibodies and 6 traditional antibodies]." Ann Pathol 18(6): 460-5.

21 Garcia-Prats, M. D., C. Ballestin, et al. (1998). "A comparative evaluation of immunohistochemical markers for the differential diagnosis of malignant pleural tumours." Histopathology 32(5): 462-72.

22 Dejmek, A. and A. Hjerpe (2000). "Reactivity of six antibodies in effusions of mesothelioma, adenocarcinoma and mesotheliosis: stepwise logistic regression analysis." Cytopathology 11(1): 8-17.

23 Davidson, B., S. Nielsen, et al. (2001). "The role of desmin and N-cadherin in effusion cytology: a comparative study using established markers of mesothelial and epithelial cells." Am J Surg Pathol 25(11): 1405-12.

24 Ordonez, N. G. (2003). "The immunohistochemical diagnosis of mesothelioma: a comparative study of epithelioid mesothelioma and lung adenocarcinoma." Am J Surg Pathol 27(8): 1031-51.

25 Gaffey, M. J., S. E. Mills, et al. (1992). "Immunoreactivity for BER-EP4 in adenocarcinomas, adenomatoid tumors, and malignant mesotheliomas." Am J Surg Pathol 16(6): 593-9.

26 Kaufmann, O., T. Deidesheimer, et al. (1996). "Immunohistochemical differentiation of metastatic breast carcinomas from metastatic adenocarcinomas of other common primary sites." Histopathology 29(3): 233-40.

27Lagendijk, J. H., H. Mullink, et al. (1999). "Immunohistochemical differentiation between primary adenocarcinomas of the ovary and ovarian metastases of colonic and breast origin. Comparison between a statistical and an intuitive approach." J Clin Pathol 52(4): 283-90.

28 King JE, Thatcher N, Pickering CA, et al. Sensitivity and specificity of immunohistochemical markers used in the diagnosis of epithelioid mesothelioma: a detailed systematic analysis using published data. Histopathology 2006; 48:223-32

This page last revised 16.2.2006.

©SMUHT/PW Bishop