title: AgNOR count as objective marker for dysplastic features in oral leukoplakia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dysplasia is an important feature of leukoplakia. Because agreement among oral pathologists is poor regarding lesional diagnosis, silver stainable nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) as replicatory markers may have a place in objectively characterizing dysplasia in tissue specimens.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 41 normal oral epithelia, 51 oral leukoplakia (26 dysplastic, 25 non-dysplastic), and 51 cases of squamous cell carcinoma specimens for their mean AgNOR counts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean AgNOR counts increased gradually from normal epithelium to non-dysplastic to dysplastic leukoplakia to squamous cell carcinoma. Using ROC analysis, we determined a mean AgNOR count cut-point (2.37) that can be used to distinguish between dysplastic and non-dysplastic leukoplakia. The test had a sensitivity of 75% and specificity of 83% with area under the curve being 88%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mean AgNOR count could be a valuable criterion for defining objective parameters for diagnosis/determination of dysplasia distinguishing between dysplastic and non-dysplastic leukoplakia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Ecology, School of Dentistry and Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. pretatma@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chattopadhyay
authors.forename: Jay G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Ray
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Caplan
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D019540:Area Under Curve; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007972:Leukoplakia, Oral / Q000473:pathology*; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000473:pathology; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D009697:Nucleolus Organizer Region / Q000473:pathology*; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000473:pathology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016622:Silver Staining
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor