Rg. Steinbeck et al., DNA CONTENT AND PCNA IMMUNOREACTIVITY IN ORAL PRECANCEROUS AND CANCEROUS LESIONS, European journal of cancer. Part B, Oral oncology, 29B(4), 1993, pp. 279-284
Thirty-three dysplastic lesions showing varying degrees of atypia loca
ted in the oral cavity and 83 squamous cell carcinomas located in the
oral cavity and tongue (n=56) or in the lips (n=27) were analysed by m
eans of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) immunoreactivity and
image cytometric DNA measurements. The results show that in dysplasti
c lesions increasing cellular atypia correlated to elevated proliferat
ive activity and aneuploidy occurring in the basal cell layers. In hig
hly differentiated squamous carcinomas increased PCNA immunoreactivity
and aneuploidy was preferentially observed focally (grade 1 tumours)
or in the invasive zones (grade 2 tumours). In contrast, more poorly d
ifferentiated carcinomas (grade 3 and 4 tumours) showed strongly eleva
ted proliferative activity and aneuploidy throughout the entire tumour
mass.