Quantitative analysis of AgNOR proteins: a reliable marker of the rapidity of cell duplication and a significant prognostic parameter in tumour pathology.
The rate at which a tumour proliferates represents an important parameter for predicting the clinical outcome of patients with neoplastic diseases. Rapidly growing tumours are expected to have a worse behaviour than slowly proliferating ones, and there is increasing evidence that high growth-rate cancers require aggressive treatment for better control of the disease. Cell kinetics data are, therefore, useful for pathologists and clinical oncologists in order to obtain valuable prognostic information and to define the most appropriate therapeutic strategy in single cases. Over the past 20 years, several methods of cell proliferation assessment have been developed and employed in routine pathology. Among these, the quantitative analysis of AgNOR proteins (namely the argyrophilic proteins of the nucleolar organiser regions) has recently been proposed as a reliable indicator of the rapidity of cell duplication. In the present review, the relationship between AgNOR protein expression and cell proliferation rate is discussed, and the principal applications of the AgNOR protein parameter as a prognostic marker in tumour pathology are reported.
Trerè
D
Dipartimento di Patologia Sperimentale, Universitá degli Studi di Bologna,Bologna, 40138, Italy. trere@med.unibo.it