title: Argyrophilic nuclear organizer regions (AgNORs) in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
abstract: Nuclear organizer regions (NORs) code for ribosomal RNA and are associated with non-histone nucleoproteins which can be identified by silver staining (AgNORs). AgNORs have been correlated to proliferative activity of tumors and hence may be prognosis-related. The present study evaluates the possible prognostic importance of the AgNORs in tumor cells of patients with pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). A significant increase in AgNOR counts was observed in ALL patients as compared to normal controls. Further, a significant positive correlation was observed between AgNOR counts and total WBC count at diagnosis. A negative correlation was also observed between AgNOR counts and age of the patients. Logistic regression analysis revealed further correlation between AgNOR counts and disease with an odds ratio of 1.29 (P = 0.03) as compared to normal controls. These results therefore suggest that AgNOR counts may be significant in the evaluation of pediatric ALL.
authors.affiliation: Division of Laboratory Medicine, Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, India.
authors.forename: T T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Sreelekha
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kusumakumary
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Srinivas
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pushpakumary
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Pillai
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D007399:Interphase; D016015:Logistic Models; D009697:Nucleolus Organizer Region / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D016622:Silver Staining
chemical_list: D012334:RNA, Neoplasm; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal