To observe the expression levels of Vimentin and Ki-67 in the occurrence and development of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and explore the possible correlation between the expression of Vimentin/Ki-67 and clinical significance.

The clinical data of 133 patients who underwent surgical operation from January 2016 to June 2017 were reviewed. SP immunohistochemical staining was used to explore the expression levels of Vimentin and Ki-67 in different tissues. Correlation analysis was carried out between the expression results and the clinical stage, histological grade and tumor size.

Both Vimentin and Ki-67 showed positive expression in renal cell carcinoma, but no expression was found in the adjacent normal renal tissue. Vimentin was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm of the cells while Ki-67 expressed in nucleus. There was significant difference between renal cell carcinoma and adjacent normal renal tissue (χ²=58.86, P<0.05; χ²=26.67, P<0.05). There were no significant differences between Vimentin/Ki-67 expression levels in different gender (χ²=4.07, P>0.05; χ²=1.16, P>0.05), age(χ²=0.03, P>0.05; χ²=0.87, P>0.05) and location(χ²=0.00, P>0.05; χ²=0.00, P>0.05)of renal cell carcinoma patients. However, there were significant differences between different clinical stage (χ²=10.66, P<0.01; χ²=19.88, P<0.01), histological grade (χ²=13.79, P<0.01; χ²=21.03, P<0.01) and tumor size (χ²=19.52, P<0.01; χ²=16.10, P<0.01). There was positive correlation between Vimentin/Ki-67 (r=0.46, P<0.05).

Vimentin and Ki-67 are involved in the development of renal cell carcinoma, and their expression levels are related to the clinical stage, histological grade and tumor size. High expression levels of Vimentin and Ki-67 are presented in carcinoma tissues with high clinical stage, late histological grade and big tumor. Both of them may play a synergistic role in the progression of the carcinoma.