Vimentin immunoexpression and its prognostic activity in colon cancer among Caucasian patients

It is generally accepted that colon cancer is the most commonly diagnosed gastrointestinal cancer and a major public health problem. As revealed by studies, the clinical outcomes of patients, especially those with lymph node-positive status, are still unsatisfactory.

The current study investigated the expression of vimentin protein in colon adenocarcinoma samples from proximal and distal parts of the colon to assess its prognostic significance by correlating its immunohistochemical expression with the clinicopathological variables and survival of Caucasian patients.

To investigate the clinicopathological and prognostic roles of vimentin expression, the immunohistochemical analysis was performed in colon cancer tumour samples and adjacent non- pathological mucosa. As revealed, the level of vimentin immunohistochemical reactivity correlated with the grade of the histological differentiation (H [2.97] = 37.949; p < 0.001).

The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the overall survival rate in the group of patients with low vimentin immunoreactivity was significantly greater than that for patients with a moderate or strong level of vimentin protein expression. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the grade of tumour differentiation (HR = 2.150; 95% CI: 1.380-3.349, p = 0.001) and vimentin expression (HR = 3.901; 95% CI: 2.436-6.247, p < 0.001) were independent risk factors for worse survival.