Background: The aim of this study was to investigate whether adult human cardiomyocytes may reexpress vimentin and whether this is linked to cellular activation.
Methods: Myocardial samples of 81 heart transplant recipients (n=183) and patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (n=10) were investigated by immunohistochemistry with the use of the marker molecule vimentin, the muscle-specific protein desmin, and Ki67, a marker for cell activation.
Results: Vimentin protein expression in cardiomyocytes was found in 28 samples of transplant recipients and 5 myocardial samples of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. Coexpression of vimentin and Ki67 was found in 52 of 340 vimentin-positive cardiomyocytes.
Conclusions: We suggest that the vimentin/Ki67 coexpression indicates cell activation processes as the result of different growth stimuli.