AN APPLICATION OF MIB ANTIBODY TO THE RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF MELANOMAS OF ORAL-MUCOSA AND FACIAL SKIN

A new monoclonal antibody prepared against a fragment of Ki-67 antigen MIB, from Dianova, was applied for investigation of malignant melanom as of facial skin (25 cases) and the oral cavity (25 cases), which wer e routinely embedded in paraffin. The values of the Ki-67 index (expre ssed as a percentage of positive nuclei) were correlated with TNM char acteristics of tumors and patient survival. Significant correlation wa s found between the Ki-67 index and the level of lymph node involvemen t (N value), the presence of distant metastases and the time of patien t survival. A positive relationship between the Ki-67 value and tumor size was also observed although it lacked statistical significance.