Koexpression von Keratin und Vimentin in nicht-therapierten Plattenepithelkarzinomen des HNO-Trakts

Forty-four untreated squamous-cell carcinomas of the upper aerodigestive tract were examined immunohistochemically with antibodies against keratin and vimentin. Surprisingly, in 18% of cases, a coexpression of both intermediate filaments was found both in undifferentiated carcinomas and in highly differentiated carcinomas, where it was only possible to observe this phenomenon in the basal cell layer. The tumor-biological relevance of these findings must be the subject of further investigations.