Expression of vimentin and CD44 in mucoepidermoid carcinoma: A role in tumor growth

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) may participate in angiogenesis by lining the wall of tumor vessels. AIM: The current study aimed to present the role of vimentin and CD44 in inducing vasculogenic mimicry (VM) and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in different grades of mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 63 MEC samples were collected from the archive of Department of Pathology of Taleghani Educational Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Vimentin and CD44/periodic acid-Schiff double staining was performed. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Chi-square test was used to examine the differences with categorical variables. Significance level was set at 0.05. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to assess the colocalization of the markers. RESULTS: There were statistically significant differences between tumor grade and the expression levels of vimentin and CD44 (P = 0.000). CONCLUSION: Our results may disclose a definite relationship between microvessl density (MVD), VM, EMT, and CSCs in MEC samples. Thus, it is reasonable to suggest that CSCs are related to angiogenesis and VM.