ASSESSMENT OF THE EXPRESSION OF P53, MIB-1 (KI-67 ANTIGEN), AND ARGYROPHILIC NUCLEOLAR ORGANIZER REGIONS IN CARCINOMA OF THE EXTRAHEPATIC BILE-DUCT

BACKGROUND. The authors retrospectively examined the predictive value of p53, MIB-1, and the argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (AgNOR ) and examined the relationships among them in carcinoma of the extrah epatic bile duct (EHBD).METHODS. Formalin fixed, paraffin embedded spe cimens from 54 patients with EHBD carcinoma were immunostained with MI B-1 against the Ki-67 nuclear antigen and p53 by the avidin-biotin per oxidase complex method, using the antigen retrieval technique of heati ng tissue sections in a microwave oven. The AgNOR proteins were locali zed at the optical level, as shown by a one-step silver staining techn ique. RESULTS. MIB-1 and AgNOR were closely associated with Ig?nph nod e metastasis (P < 0.01). The cumulative survival rate for patients wit h a low MIB-1 labeling index (LI) (< 29%) was significantly better tha n that for patients with a high MIB-1 LI (greater than or equal to 29% ) in cases of EHBD carcinoma (P < 0.05), but MIB-1 was not an independ ent prognostic factor in multivariate analysis. The results indicated that AgNOR and p53 overexpression had no prognostic value, The authors detected p53 in 24 of the 54 EHBD carcinomas (44.4%). There was a sig nificant correlation between MIB-1 and AgNOR (P < 0.01). The authors f ound that neither MIB-1 nor AgNOR correlated with p53 overexpression. CONCLUSIONS. MIB-1 and AgNOR proved to be useful predictors of lymph n ode metastasis. The results of this study indicated that MIB-1 and AgN OR might be markers of the progression of EHBD carcinoma. (C) 1998 Ame rican Cancer Society.