Prognostic value of serum vimentin in adult Egyptian patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Abstract

Abstract Background Vimentin is a type III intermediate filament protein that is normally expressed in mesenchymal cells. Vimentin is recognized as a marker of epithelial–mesenchymal transition. It is overexpressed in cancer cells such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, melanoma, and gastrointestinal cancers. It plays an important role in tumor growth, invasion, and metastatic progression. Its role in hematological malignancy is still under investigation. Aim To measure serum vimentin level in the peripheral blood of adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and correlating it with clinical outcome and prognosis of the disease. Patients and methods Serum vimentin was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 40 patients with ALL recruited from the hematology unit and compared with 20 healthy controls, with follow-up of 12 months. Results Vimentin levels were significantly higher in patients with ALL than in controls (P<0.001). Vimentin levels were also positively correlated with high white blood cell count (P=0.030). Patients were divided into two groups using the median value of their vimentin (18 ng) into high vimentin group and low vimentin group. We found that patients with high vimentin level have shorter median overall survival than patients with low vimentin level (5.18 vs. 6.73 months) but with no statistical significance detected (P=0.598). Regarding disease-free survival, the patients with high vimentin level has shorter disease-free survival than patients with low vimentin level (1.67 vs. 7 months), with no statistical significance (P=0.588). Conclusion Vimentin is overexpressed in patients with ALL and associated with poor clinical outcome.