Expression of Vimentin and Ki-67 Proteins in Cervical Squamous Cell Carcinoma and their Relationships with Clinicopathological Features

Abstract

<br/><b>Objectives</b>: To investigate the expression of vimentin and Ki-67 proteins in cervical squamous cell carcinoma(CSCC) and their relationships with patient clinicopathological features. Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>:Fifty-sevenCSCC samples archived in Department of Pathology in the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou MedicalUniversity were selected. The expression of vimentin and Ki-67 proteins in CSCC tissue were detected usingimmunohistochemical SP method, and correlations between them and their relationships with clinicopathologicalfeatures were analyzed. <br/><b>Results</b>: Among 57 CSCC tissues, there were 43 with positive expression of Vimentin,and the positive rate was 75.4%; there were 57 cases with positive expression of Ki-67, and the positive ratecame up to 100.0%. The results of Pearson correlation analysis displayed that the expression of vimentin had asignificantly-positive correlation with Ki-67 in CSCC tissue (r=0.984, co0.000). The expression of both Ki-67 andvimentin was intimately associated with the presence or absence of local invasion and lymph node metastasisas well as differentiated degrees of the tumor (P=0.003, 0.017, 0.000; P=0.001, 0.008, 0.003) instead of the age,tumor size and clinical staging (P>0.05). <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) tends to appearin poorly-differentiated CSCC tissue, and the up-regulation of vimentin expression is accompanied by highexpression of Ki-67, suggesting that invasion and metastasis readily occur in these tumor cells.