Jt. Donovan et al., RELIABILITY OF QUANTITATING PROLIFERATIVE CELL NUCLEAR ANTIGEN IN EPITHELIAL OVARIAN-TUMORS, Analytical and quantitative cytology and histology, 16(2), 1994, pp. 85-89
Sources of variability in quantitating proliferative cell nuclear anti
gen (PCNA) by image analysis were evaluated in paraffin sections of 18
ovarian tumors of low malignant potential (LMP) and grade 1 (G1) carc
inomas. The correlation coefficient of reliability (R) was calculated
to determine how reliable a single observation was for representing a
''true'' tumor value. Reliability of 61% was obtained when interobserv
er and intraobserver variability were assessed. Threshold settings for
positive nuclear and antibody signals minimally affected the overall
reliability. The reliability of a single block of tumor for representi
ng true tumor value was (R) over cap = 0.61. These sources of variabil
ity render this technique impractical for evaluating proliferative cha
racteristics in LMP and G1 common epithelial ovarian tumors with PCNA
staining.