Intermediate filaments (IFs) are highly regulated and conserved during cell transformation and tumor development. The co-expression of keratin 8, 18 and vimentin has been shown to be related to recurrence and metastasis in both cutaneous and uveal melanomas. This thesis provides the first immunohistochemical evidence that the co-expression of keratin 8, 18 and vimentin is present in one third of conjunctival melanomas. The results show that conjunctival melanomas co-expressing IFs are mixed cell tumors with diffuse growth patterns. It is also shown that melanoma cells co-expressing IFs are mainly located around the peripheral or marginal area of the tumors. In addition, this thesis indicates that the initial tumor thickness significantly increases in conjunctival melanomas co-expressing IFs. Therefore, it is demonstrated that the co-expression of IFs plays an important role in influencing the malignant progression of conjunctival melanomas, and the co-expression of IFs can be used as a prognostic marker for conjunctival melanomas.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.33456 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Zhang, Yi, 1956- |
| Contributors | Burnier, Miguel N., Jr. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Pathology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001770411, proquestno: MQ70762, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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