AGNOR QUANTITY IN NEEDLE-BIOPSY SPECIMENS OF PROSTATIC ADENOCARCINOMAS - CORRELATION WITH PROLIFERATION STATE, GLEASON SCORE, CLINICAL STAGE, AND DNA CONTENT

Aims-To define the relation between the quantity of silver stained nuc leolar organiser regions (AgNORs) and histological grade, clinical sta ge, DNA content, and MIB-1 immunostaining in needle biopsy specimens o f prostatic adenocarcinomas. Methods-Histological grade was determined according to the Gleason system. AgNOR quantity, DNA content and MIB- 1 immunostaining were evaluated by image cytometry on routine histolog ical sections stained with silver, Feulgen reaction and MIB-1 antibody , respectively. Results-The mean AgNOR area increased with increasing Gleason score. A significant difference was found in the AgNOR values between low, intermediate and high grade tumours. Patients with clinic ally localised tumour (stages A and B) had lower AgNOR values than pat ients with advanced disease (stages C and D), but the difference in th e mean AgNOR values between the two groups was not statistically signi ficant. Non-diploid tumours had a significantly higher mean (SD) AgNOR area than diploid tumours (3.68 (1.04) mu m(2) v 2.73 (0.60) mu m(2), respectively), while no significant difference was observed in the me an AgNOR values between aneuploid and tetraploid tumours (3.68 (1.04) mu m(2) v 3.70 (1.05) mu m(2)). When AgNOR and MIB-1-PI values were co mpared using linear regression analysis, a highly significant correlat ion was found. Conclusions-These data demonstrate that AgNOR quantity reflects the proliferative potential of prostatic adenocarcinomas, and is significantly related to histological grade and DNA content. The e ase of application on routine sections, maintaining the morphological integrity of the tissue, the ability to evaluate selected histological areas of limited size and objective quantification by image cytometry make the AgNOR method particularly suitable for cell kinetic analysis in prostatic needle biopsy specimens.