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Background/aim: Lung cancer is the first cause of cancer related deaths in both males and females. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a reversible process by which epithelial cells transform to mesenchymal stem cells by losing their cell polarity and cell-to-cell adhesion, gaining migratory and invasive properties. High levels of E-cadherin are expressed in epithelial cells, whereas mesenchymal cells express high levels of N-cadherin, fibronectin and vimentin. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between E-cadherin and vimentin expression and their clinical significance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)., Materials and Methods: The immunohistochemical expression of E-cadherin, vimentin and Ki-67 was performed on tissue microarrays from NSCLC specimens obtained from 112 newly- diagnosed cases and were studied using classical pathological evaluation. Associations between E-cadherin, vimentin and Ki-67 expression, clinicopathological variables and survival were analyzed. In all cases, a value of p≤0.05 was considered significant., Results: Low E-cadherin expression was significantly correlated with tumor necrosis (p=0.019). Moreover, there was a trend for correlation between high E-cadherin expression and better overall survival (hazard ratio=1.02, and 95% confidence interval=0.45-1.87, p=0.091). There was also a significant negative correlation between vimentin expression and overall survival (hazard ratio=1.13, and 95% confidence interval=0.78-1.65, p=0.026). Additionally, there was a significant negative correlation between vimentin expression and grade I tumors (p=0.031). Finally, a positive correlation trend between vimentin expression and Ki-67 was found (p=0.073)., Conclusion: High E-cadherin and low vimentin expression correlate with better prognosis and overall survival., (Copyright© 2017, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Tumor cells can metastasize by entering existing vessels or new vessels actively recruited into the primary tumor. Invasion of the lymphatics and blood vessels in the periphery of the tumor seems to be a prerequisite step in the metastatic process. The aim of this study was to correlate peripheral lymphatic vessel infiltration (PLI) and peripheral blood vessel infiltration (PVI) in a cohort of patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast with various other prognostic parameters and outcome., Methods: The study population consisted of 236 female patients with invasive ductal breast carcinomas, who had been operated between 2011 and 2013. The registered data included age at diagnosis, histological subtype, tumor size, TNM stage, histological grade, estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR), HER-2, p53, and PLI and PVI., Results: Pathological examination revealed that 22.5% of the patients had PVI and 37.3% had PLI at the tumor front. PVI correlated with younger age (p<0.05), higher histologic grade (p<0.05), advanced TNM stage (p<0.05), higher T stage (p<0.05), higher N stage (p<0.05) and positive Ki67 expression (p<0.05). Similarly, PLI correlated with higher histologic grade (p<0.05), advanced TNM stage (p<0.05), higher T stage (p<0.05) and higher N stage (p<0.05). Statistical analysis did not reveal significant correlation between the presence of tumor blood and lymphatic vessels with infiltration in overall (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS)., Conclusions: PLI and PVI are important markers of worse clinical outcome as shown by their association with other established factors, but no association with recurrence and survival could be proven.