METHODS IN PATHOLOGY - ASSESSMENT OF CELL-PROLIFERATION IN PARAFFIN SECTIONS OF NORMAL BONE-MARROW BY THE MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES KI-67 AND PCNA

Assessment of the proliferative index of human bone marrow using immun ohistology in tissue sections offers practical advantages over other t echniques. It is simpler to perform and can be applied to archival mat erial. Progress in this area has been hampered by technical problems. Ki-67 studies, limited to fresh or frozen tissues, have been contradic tory, and the labeling indices have been criticized for being unrealis tically low. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) studies have al so been considered unreliable because labeling indices include nondivi ding cells. We stained 82 routinely processed nonneoplastic bone marro w biopsies for Ki-67 equivalent MIB 1 antibody and PCNA/PC10 using a m icrowave oven antigen retrieval technique. 44.7% +/- 12.0 SD of the bo ne marrow cells stained with Ki-67/MIB 1. PCNA/PC10 staining gave simi lar results (50.7% +/- 12.3 SD). Pro- and basophilic erythroblasts, my eloblasts, promyelocytes, myelocytes, and megakaryocytes stained with both monoclonal antibodies in a manner consistent with known morpholog ic and cytokinetic data. Patients in different clinical groups showed similar mean values, the only exception being a group of cytokine-trea ted patients, which showed higher values than the other cases. Immunop eroxidase staining of bone marrow sections with Ki-67/MIB 1 and PCNA/P C 10 monoclonal antibodies is a reliable method for assessing prolifer ation of hematopoietic cells.