INTERPHASE AGNOR QUANTITY AND DNA CONTENT IN ENDOMETRIAL ADENOCARCINOMA

The relationship between the amount of silver-stained nucleolar organi zer regions (AgNORs) and the DNA content of interphase neoplastic cell s in 63 cases of human endometrial adenocarcinoma was studied. Interph ase AgNOR content was determined as the mean AgNOR area per nucleus by image cytometry in silver-stained samples from paraffin-embedded sect ions. DNA content was evaluated by cytofluorometry on single cells fro m the same specimen and expressed in c units as DNA ploidy. The mean A gNOR area ranged from 1.26 to 4.48 mum2 and the modal DNA ploidy from 1.90 to 4.00c. No significant associations were found between mean AgN OR area and modal DNA ploidy when analyzed either by linear regression (beta = 0. 18; P = 0. 15) or as dichotomized variables by chi2 analysi s (chi2 = 0.82; P = 0.37). On a homogeneous subset of 45 cases of stag e I adenocarcinomas we also evaluated the prognostic relevance of AgNO R content and DNA ploidy. In monovariate analysis both parameters were significantly related to patient survival. When the mean AgNOR area a nd the modal DNA ploidy were entered into regression analysis together with the depth of myometrial invasion and histological grading, they showed an independent, high prognostic value. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.