title: Argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region associated proteins in human oral normal mucosa, verrucous carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: Silver-binding nucleolar-organizer regions (AgNORs) were counted in sections from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded blocks of 24 cases of well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, 6 cases of verrucous carcinoma, and 11 cases of normal oral mucosa. Two methods of AgNORs counting were used. The mean number of AgNORs/nucleus (mAgNORs) was used as indicator of the DNA content, and the percentage of cells containing five or more AgNORs/nucleus (pAgNORs) as indicator of the proliferative activity of the cells. These two methods were used to examine their possible contributory value as a diagnostic aid to distinguish between the types of carcinoma. The pooled mean counts were: normal oral mucosa mAgNORs 2.41 +/- 0.44 and pAgNORs 3.10 +/- 2.54 (mean +/- SD); verrucous carcinoma: mAgNORs 3.55 +/- 0.39 and pAgNORs 23 +/- 6.99; squamous cell carcinoma: mAgNORs 4.74 +/- 1.04 and pAgNORs 49.88 +/- 23.41. Although the differences of mAgNORs and pAgNORs counts were statistically significant, there was overlap of the counts between verrucous carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. These two methods of AgNORs counting cannot be used as a diagnostic aid to distinguish between these variants of squamous cell carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Oral Pathology, Dental School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Epivatianos
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D018289:Carcinoma, Verrucous / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D002455:Cell Division; D004396:Coloring Agents; D004247:DNA / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005404:Fixatives; D005557:Formaldehyde; D006801:Humans; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D009697:Nucleolus Organizer Region / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D012834:Silver
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D005404:Fixatives; D005557:Formaldehyde; D012834:Silver; D004247:DNA