title: Nucleolar organiser regions (AgNORs) related to histopathological characteristics and survival in prostatic adenocarcinoma.
abstract: The number of silver stained nucleolar organiser regions (AgNORs) was assessed in biopsy specimens of 78 patients with prostatic adenocarcinoma followed up for a mean of 15.6 years. The number of Ag-NORs was related to histological features, clinical stage, DNA ploidy, S-phase fraction (SPF) and clinical outcome. In 31/36 (86%) of grade I tumours on average less than 3.5 AgNORs/nucleus were present, whereas of grade III tumours 8/18 (44%) showed usually more than 3.5 Ag-NORs/nucleus (p = 0.0163). The number of Ag-NORs was significantly related to mean nuclear area (NA) (p = 0.017) and to SD of nuclear area (p = 0.05). The Ag-NORs were not related significantly to clinical stage, perineural infiltration, lymphatic infiltration, DNA ploidy, SPF, G2 fraction or M/V index, although there was a clear trend between the variables. In survival analysis, the degree of lymphatic infiltration (LI) (P = 0.009) predicted survival, whereas AgNORs had no significant prognostic value albeit a trend was observed. In T1-T2 tumours, histological grade (p = 0.05), PNI (p = 0.04) and SPF (p = 0.0076) predicted survival.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eskelinen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lipponen
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Syrjänen
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D000368:Aged; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009697:Nucleolus Organizer Region / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D011003:Ploidies; D011379:Prognosis; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004273:DNA, Neoplasm