AgNOR counts in cervical smears under normal and other cytopathologic conditions.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the diagnostic value of AgNOR counts in cervical smears in the process of cervical carcinogenesis and in discriminating the different grades of squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL).


METHODS
Silver nitrate staining for AgNOR counts was performed in 50 cervical smears of cytologically diagnosed normal, inflammatory, low grade SIL (LSIL) (mild dysplasia), high grade SIL (HSIL) (moderate and severe dysplasia) and squamous cell carcinoma. The smears were derived from the ongoing routine outpatient cytology screening at Queen Mary's Hospital, Lucknow, India.


RESULTS
In normal and inflammatory smears, the number of AgNOR dots varied from 1 to 2, in mild dysplasia from 2 to 4, in moderate dysplasia from 4 to 6 and in severe dysplasia from 6 to 8. Frank cervical carcinoma cases revealed 8-10 dots. Thus, a progressive increase in AgNOR counts was observed when the severity of pathologic lesions increased. Statistical analysis revealed a significant difference in AgNOR counts between normal and inflammatory smears, but it was highly significant between inflammatory and LSIL cases, between LSIL and HSIL, and between severe dysplasia and frank malignancy.


CONCLUSIONS
This study underscored the diagnostic importance of AgNOR counts, especially in discriminating between LSIL and HSIL of the cervix. Another study is under way to assess the potentiality of AgNOR counts as tumor markers in cervical carcinogenesis.
Misra
Jata S
JS
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, KG's Medical University, Lucknow, India. jata_misra@yahoo.com
Das
Vinita
V
Srivastava
Anand N
AN
Singh
Uma
U
Singh
Madhulika
M
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009697:Nucleolus Organizer Region / Q000473:pathology*; D016622:Silver Staining / Q000379:methods*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000379:methods*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor