title: Morphometric evaluation of NB84, synaptophysin and AgNOR is useful for the histological diagnosis and prognosis in peripheral neuroblastic tumors (pNTs).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the importance of NB84, synaptophysin and AgNOR and explore the quantitative association of these factors with diagnosis and outcome as well as the association between NB84 and AgNOR and other tumor and stromal factors in twenty-eight peripheral neuroblastic tumors.
  
  
  METHODS
  We assessed AgNORs, NB84, synaptophysin and several other markers in tumor tissues from 28 patients with primary neuroblastic tumors. The treatment included: surgery for stage 1, chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation for most of stages 3 and 4. Histochemistry, immunohistochemistry and morphometry were used to evaluate the amount of tumor staining for AgNOR, NB84 and synaptophysin; the outcome for our study was survival time until death due to recurrent neuroblastic tumors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only stage (p<0.01), AgNOR (p<0.01), NB84 (p<0.01) and synaptophysin (p=0.01) reached statistical significance as prognostic indicators.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Determination of NB84 and synaptophysin are useful tools for the diagnosis of peripheral neuroblastic tumors The association of the evaluation of AgNOR expression by the tumor cells may provide an important contribution to the prognostic evaluation and management approach of the patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Aparecida de Cássia
authors.initials: Ade C
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: Edwin Roger
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Parra
authors.forename: Maria Cláudia
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Zerbini
authors.forename: Venâncio Avancini Ferreira
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.forename: Vera Luiza
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Capelozzi
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Antonangelo
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm / Q000276:immunology; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis*; D034961:Antigens, Nuclear; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D010524:Peripheral Nervous System Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016708:Synaptophysin / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D034961:Antigens, Nuclear; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D016708:Synaptophysin; C051963:nucleolar organizer region associated proteins