Use of monoclonal antibodies for analyzing the distribution of the intermediate filament protein vimentin in human non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.

A series of human non-Hodgkin's lymphomas was examined for immunoreactivity with monoclonal antibodies to the intermediate filament protein vimentin with the use of an avidin-biotin immunoperoxidase method. The lymphoid cell nature of each tumor was established with the use of a panel of monoclonal antibodies to lymphoid cell differentiation antigens. There were 28 B-cell and 2 T-cell lymphomas in the series; of the 30 tumors, 11 (37%) were immunoreactive for vimentin. There was no correlation between vimentin immunoreactivity and the histopathologic type of lymphoma. In some tumors, there was nonspecific stromal immunoreactivity for vimentin, but the neoplastic lymphocytes were not immunoreactive. The selective expression of vimentin in non-Hodgkin's lymphomas may be due to masking of the appropriate epitopes or to selective expression of the vimentin gene in certain tumors. On the basis of these results, monoclonal antibodies to vimentin appear to be of limited usefulness in establishing the diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.