PROGNOSTIC VALUE OF PROLIFERATING CELL NUCLEAR ANTIGEN (PCNA) IMMUNOSTAINING IN NEUROBLASTOMA

Immunostaining for proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), a marker of cell proliferation, is being increasingly used to study the prolif erative activity of tumors, and the PCNA labeling index has been corre lated with the prognosis of several malignant neoplasms. Formalin-fixe d, paraffin-embedded tissue specimens of 24 primary neuroblastomas wer e immunostained using an anti-PCNA monoclonal antibody and the PCNA in dex was calculated. Then the relationship between the PCNA index, prog nosis, and various other factors was assessed, retrospectively. The me an PCNA index was 11.0%. Patients having tumors with a high PCNA index (greater-than-or-equal-to 11.0%) showed a significantly lower surviva l rate than those possessing tumors with a low PCNA index (P < 0.001). Moreover, the tumors showing N-myc amplification had a high mean PCNA index of 15.6%, while those without N-myc amplification had a low mea n index of 1.7% (P < 0.01). The PCNA index was closely related to the prognosis of neuroblastoma and to N-myc amplification. It has the pote ntial to be a useful prognostic indicator of the patients with neurobl astoma. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.