AGNOR COUNTS AND THEIR COMBINATION WITH FLOW CYTOMETRIC ANALYSES AND CLINICAL-PARAMETERS AS A PROGNOSTIC INDICATOR IN BREAST-CARCINOMA

Silver binding nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) were counted in ti ssue sections and were shown to assist in the distinction between beni gn and malignant breast lesions. The mean AgNOR counts in fibroadenoma s were 1.05 +/- 0.85 (n=18), in lobular carcinoma 3.55 +/- 0.56 (n=35) , and in intraductal carcinoma 4.83 +/- 1.20 (n=45). AgNOR counting ma y provide information on breast cancer prognosis supplementary to that obtained with other methods such as flow cytometric analysis. The AgN OR values in carcinomas were also compared with ploidy and S-phase fra ctions (S) by flow cytometry. More than 75% of the total cancers with counts above 3 dots per nuclear profile contained aneuploid cells, whe reas 20% with counts below 3 contained diploid cells (P < 0.05). Simil ar trends were noticed with regard to S-phase fractions, which were 45 % +/- 12.5 and 14% +/- 4.5, respectively, for the two groups (P < 0.05 ). AgNOR counting, flow cytometry and clinical parameters may provide complementary information on breast cancer prognosis.