Tubular vimentin metaplasia in canine nephropathies

The expression of the intermediate filament vimentin was examined immunocytochemically in 17 cases of histologically confirmed primary canine nephropathy, and compared with its expression in normal canine kidney. In normal renal tissue, the expression of vimentin was restricted to glomerular elements, but in all cases of chronic interstitial nephritis it extended to the cortical tubular epithelia, and was correlated with the degree of tubulo-interstitial damage. Three of four cases of renal cell carcinoma had vimentin reactivity in neoplastic cells. In only one case of familial renal disease was vimentin expressed in scattered epithelial cells of the cortical tubules.