Proliferative activity of human solid tumors evaluated by thymidine labeling index and primer-dependent alpha-DNA polymerase.
Proliferating cells, independent of their position in the cell cycle, contain a primer-dependent alpha-DNA polymerase (PDP); we have, therefore, tested the feasibility of the PDP assay in breast, ovarian, and head and neck tumors. Experimental results demonstrate that the PDP labeling index (PDP-LI) is constantly superior to the thymidine labeling index (TLI), which indicates the percentage of S phase cells. The PDP-LI/TLI ratios observed were 5.0 in breast cancer, 3.6 in ovarian cancer, and 2.5 in head and neck tumors. Higher PDP-LI scores have been obtained in metastatic breast tumor samples (PDP-LI = 8.8) compared to nonmetastatic tumors (PDP-LI = 4.9).
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D002455:Cell Division; D004257:DNA Polymerase II / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D013936:Thymidine / Q000378:metabolism*
D004257:DNA Polymerase II; D013936:Thymidine