Nucleolar organiser regions (AgNORs) related to histopathological characteristics and survival in prostatic adenocarcinoma.
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.
Eskelinen
M
M
Department of Surgery, University of Kuopio, Finland.
Lipponen
P
P
Syrjänen
K
K
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
D004273:DNA, Neoplasm