Survival
analysis All (n = 179) patients As a single marker, vimentin was not associated significantly with patient survival (hazard ratio 1.22, 95%CI 0.69–2.14, p = 0.497; log-rank p = 0.496) IWP-2 purchase (Table 2). Also compilation of basal cytokeratins (CK5/6 or CK14 or CK17 – positive vs. negative tumours) was not associated significantly with patient survival (hazard ratio 1.46, 95%CI 0.90–2.37, p = 0.127; log-rank p = 0.124) (Table 2, Fig. 2). However, adding vimentin to basal cytokeratins compilation (vimentin or CK5/6 or CK14 or CK17-positive vs. negative tumours) could significantly determine the prognosis (Table 2, Fig. 3). Figure 2 Overall survival depending on the immunopanel (‘CK5/6 or 14 or 17′) used in the determination of basal type tumours. All patients (n = 179).
Figure 3 Overall survival depending on the immunopanel (‘Vimentin or CK5/6 or 14 or 17′) used in the determination of basal type tumours. All patients (n = 179). Patients with triple negative tumours (n = 54) In 54 (30.2%) triple negative patients vimentin as a single marker did not predict clinical outcome (hazard ratio 0.64, 95%CI 0.28–1.48, p = 0.297; log-rank p = 0.293) (Table 2). There was a tendency towards slightly better outcome in ‘CK5/6 or 14 or 17′-positive patients when compared with the negative ones but this difference was not significant (Table 2, Fig. 4). There was no significant difference in clinical outcome between ‘vimentin or CK5/6 or 14 or 17′ – positive vs. negative patients Amino acid (Table 2, Fig. 5).
Figure 4 Overall survival depending on the immunopanel (‘CK5/6 or 14 or 17′) used AZD6738 in the determination of basal type tumours. Patients with triple negative cancer (n = 54). Figure 5 Overall survival depending on the immunopanel (‘Vimentin or CK5/6 or 14 or 17′) used in the determination of basal type tumours. Patients with triple negative cancer (n = 54). Patients with non-triple negative tumours (n = 125) In a non-triple negative group only 9 patients were positive for vimentin. Thus, results of survival analysis shown in Table 2 should be regarded as being inconclusive and they are presented for comparative purposes only. Discussion In this study, positive staining for vimentin was found in 21.2% of cases, the proportion which is similar [9], smaller [12] or higher [2] to reported by others. Such disagreements between studies could be see more possibly explained by the subjectivity of the method and differences between scoring systems used. Some authors have pointed out that differences in vimentin expression may depend on the type of tissue fixation – the smaller amount of vimentin-expressing cells is observed in formalin fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues [27, 28]. In our study, there was a statistically significant correlation between vimentin expression and poor differentiation of tumours (G3 cancers) both in all patients and in the triple negative group.