RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN NODAL STATUS AND CELL-KINETICS, DNA-PLOIDY PATTERN AND HISTOPATHOLOGY OF THE DEEPLY INFILTRATING SITES IN COLORECTAL ADENOCARCINOMA

Tumor cell kinetics and DNA contents were investigated by in vitro lab eling with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and flow cytometry using paraffin- embedded specimens in both superficially (Sup) and deeply (Deep) infil trating sites of 28 colorectal adenocarcinomas. Eleven were well diffe rentiated and 17 were moderately differentiated adenocarcinomas. In mo derately differentiated adenocarcinoma, histologic low grade types of Deep were frequently associated with lymph node metastasis, but the Br dU labeling indices (LI) or tumor DNA ploidy pattern did not correlate with nodal status. Among the seven aneuploid tumors of moderately dif ferentiated adenocarcinoma, the BrdU LI and histology of Deep tended t o correlate with nodal status. These findings suggest that the histolo gy of Deep should have a greater significance than tumor cell kinetics or DNA contents. They also suggest that the tumor DNA ploidy pattern may be heterogeneous and divided into subgroups according to its cell kinetics or histology of Deep in relation to lymph node metastasis.