In parallel, the putative pathogenetic role of vimentin, a protein involved in several cellular functions, has also been investigated (26, 28, 29): despite vimentin appearing to be capable of reproducing a typical sarcoidosis inflammation in an animal model, autoantibodies against vimentin can not be considered specific of sarcoidosis disease due to their presence in several autoimmune diseases. The gene discussed is VIM; the disease is sarcoidosis.