ARGYROPHILIC NUCLEOLAR ORGANIZER REGIONS (AGNORS) IN INFLAMMATORY PREMALIGNANT AND MALIGNANT LESIONS OF THE UTERINE CERVIX

Nuclear organizer regions (NORs) code for ribosomal RNA and are associ ated with non-histone nucleoproteins, which can be identified by silve r staining (AgNORs). AgNORs have been correlated to proliferative acti vity of tumors and hence may be prognosis-related. The present study e valuates AgNOR counts in inflammatory lesions of the uterine cervix, c ervical intra-epithelial neoplasia, and invasive cervical squamous car cinoma. Significant variation in AgNOR counts were observed between th e three study groups, with invasive carcinoma showing maximum counts. Further, a highly significant positive correlation was observed betwee n AgNOR counts and tumor progression. These results therefore suggest that AgNOR counts may be of significance in the evaluation of cervical carcinogenesis and could elaborate histopathological diagnosis of cer vical lesions.