In recent years, vimentin has been recognized as a marker for epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Although EMT is associated with several tumorigenic events, vimentin’s role in the underlying events mediating these processes remains unknown.

What is vimentin a marker for?

In recent years, vimentin has been recognized as a marker for epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Although EMT is associated with several tumorigenic events, vimentin’s role in the underlying events mediating these processes remains unknown.

What is cytokeratin and vimentin?

Cytokeratin is expressed in epithelial cells, where it provides cell-cell adhesion support [8]. Vimentin is expressed in mesenchymal cells that usually lack both cell-cell adhesion and polarity. In these cells, vimentin provides resistance to migration-related stress [9].

Is vimentin in endothelial cells?

Vimentin is an intermediate filament long known to be expressed in endothelial cells. Cellular therapies designed to treat vascular pathologies rely on large numbers of endothelial cells.

What cells express vimentin?

Vimentin is a widely expressed and highly conserved 57-kD protein that is constitutively expressed in mesenchymal cells, including endothelial cells lining blood vessels, renal tubular cells, macrophages, neutrophils, fibroblasts, and leukocytes (3–8).

Is vimentin a mesenchymal marker?

Vimentin is one type of EMT protein marker, which is present in mesenchymal cells and involved in cancer progression [4, 7, 11, 15].

What does vimentin stain?

Vimentin stains virtually all spindle cell neoplasms—mesenchymal spindle cell neoplasms and sarcomatoid carcinomas included. However, vimentin stains a subset of carcinomas regularly and to a significant degree, and this may be useful in the context of a panel of antibodies to narrow a differential diagnosis.

What is the function of desmin?

Desmin filaments are mainly located at the periphery of Z-disk of striated muscles and at the dense bodies of smooth muscle cells, and they have been postulated to play a critical role in the maintenance of structural and mechanical integrity of the contractile apparatus in muscle tissues.

Is vimentin expressed in epithelial cells?

In vivo, vimentin is not usually present in normal epithelial cells; however, it has been cultured in vitro in epithelial cells and may also show expression in tumor cells of epithelial origin, usually in paraffin tissue following antigen retrieval.

What vimentin mean?

Vimentin, also known as fibroblast intermediate filament, is the major intermediate filament found in nonmuscle cells (Colvin et al., 1995). These cell types include fibroblast, endothelial cells, macrophages, melanocytes, Schwann cells, and lymphocytes.

What is desmin in a tumor?

Desmin is a smooth-muscle type intermediate filament protein, expressed by smooth muscle cells, but also found expressed in fibrotic tissue in wound healing and in tumor ‘desmoplastic’ stroma, yet the origin of the cell type expressing desmin has been controversial [16].

What is desmin marker?

Desmin is one of the earliest protein markers for muscle tissue in embryogenesis as it is detected in the somites. Although it is present early in the development of muscle cells, it is only expressed at low levels, and increases as the cell nears terminal differentiation.