MIB-1 in endometrial carcinoma: Prognostic significance with 5-year follow-up

Objective. MIB-1, a monoclonal antibody to the Ki-67 antigen, has presumpti vely been shown to be predictive of recurrent disease in patients with endo metrial cancer. In order to more conclusively establish whether MIB-1 stain ing can be used as a prognostic indicator of recurrent disease or survival, a larger group of patients with a minimum follow-up of 5 years was analyze d. Methods. The tumors from 147 consecutive patients receiving primary surgica l therapy for endometrial carcinoma were evaluated with the MIB-1 monoclona l antibody. Proliferation index was quantified by image analysis. Patients were followed for a minimum of 60 months. In addition to MIB-1 staining, hi stologic type, stage, grade, depth of invasion, lymphovascular space invasi on, and peritoneal cytology were evaluated as prognostic indicators. Results. Twenty-five of 147 patients died during the study period. MIB-1 st aining was not significantly elevated in advanced (stage II, III, and IV) a s opposed to early (stage I) carcinomas (P = 0.38). In patients whose tumor MIB-1 staining was less than 33.0%, no deaths occurred. By multivariate an alysis, only MIB-1 staining (P < 0.001), FIGO stage (P = 0.005), and LVI (P = 0.005) were shown to be independent prognostic indicators predictive of survival. Conclusion. In this series of 147 consecutive patients with endometrial car cinoma, the monoclonal antibody MIB-1 was shown to be an independent progno stic indicator of 5-year survival. This follow-up further validates the pre vious work regarding the significance and potential usefulness of MIB-1 as a prognostic indicator. (C) 1999 Academic Press.