Human lung tumours: does intermediate filament co-expression correlate with other morphological or immunocytochemical features?

Co-expression of intermediate filaments is being increasingly reported for many human tumours including carcinoma of the lung. However, it is unclear whether such findings are unusual or restricted to a group of highly atypical tumours. In the present study the pattern of co-expression of intermediate filaments in 94 human lung tumours has been correlated with light and electron microscopical features which are thought to be atypical for particular tumour types. These same aberrant patterns of intermediate filament co-expression have also been compared with the proliferative rate of these tumours as determined by labelling with the monoclonal antibody Ki67. The results of this study have shown that the aberrant expression of intermediate filaments is not a feature unique to a group of highly unusual tumours but is found throughout the spectrum of lung cancer. The implications of these findings for the use of anti-intermediate filament antibodies in pulmonary pathology are discussed with suggestions for future directions which might be taken in this field.