Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in vulvar cancer with and without inguinal lymph node metastases

Background: During process of invasion cancer cells may usurp a normal embryological process, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), as a means of acquiring migratory capacity (Stewart & Mccluggage 2013). The knowledge of EMT in vulvar cancer is very limited (Rodrigues et al. 2013), especially in comparing cases with and without inguinal metastatic disease. Methods: 15 cases with and 15 cases without inguinal metastatic disease were obatiend from our vulval cancer registry. Representative tumor block was immunohistochemically satined against vimentin, p53 and cyclin D1. An immunoreactive score (IRS) was calcul…