E. Munckwikland et al., NUCLEAR-DNA CONTENT, PROLIFERATING-CELL NUCLEAR ANTIGEN (PCNA) AND P53 IMMUNOSTAINING IN PREDICTING PROGRESSION OF LARYNGEAL-CANCER IN-SITULESIONS, International journal of cancer, 56(1), 1994, pp. 95-99
Squamous epithelial cancer in situ (CIS) of the upper aerodigastric tr
act is a histopathologically well-defined condition. However, in clini
cal practice, morphological grading of dysplasia is difficult and show
s large variability. The biology of CIS remains enigmatic, and there i
s yet no reliable way to predict whether a CIS lesion will progress to
invasive cancer, remain stable or regress. In the search for markers
able to foretell clinical outcome, we performed image DNA cytometry (I
CM) and immunohistochemical staining for PCNA as well as p53 in 38 lar
yngeal CIS lesions, of which 9 progressed to invasive cancer. The majo
rity of the CIS lesions displayed high-grade DNA aberration, a high PC
NA-positive rate, and every third lesion was p53-positive by immunosta
ining. The lesions which progressed to invasive cancer showed a clear
tendency towards more pronounced DNA aberration, a higher percentage o
f intense PCNA staining and more frequent p53 positivity. By combining
the results from the analyses of DNA, PCNA and p53 in a prognostic in
dex for each individual case, we correctly classified 82% of the lesio
ns as progressors or non-progressors. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.