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Updated: Jul 17, 2026
Detection and Monitoring of Tumor Associated Circulating DNA in Patient Biofluids
Published on: June 8, 2019
[Significance of FCM-DNA ploidy pattern, AgNOR counting, hTERT and PCNA expression in differentiating malignant from
Li-Ying Wu1, Bang-Rong Liu, Jun Lu
1Lab of Gastroenterology, People's Hospital of Huaibei City, Huaibei, Anhui, PR China. wu_ly@sohu.com
Background & Objective:
Differentiating malignant from benign serous effusion is still a difficulty in clinic at present. This study was to explore the clinical value of flow cytometry (FCM)-DNA ploidy, argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) staining, human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression in differentiating malignant from benign serous effusion.
Methods:
Sixty-seven patients with serous effusion, treated in People's Hospital of Huaibei City from Jun. 2004 to Jun. 2005, were selected. Besides routine exfoliated cytology examination, FCM-DNA ploidy analysis and AgNOR staining was performed, hTERT and PCNA expression were detected by SP immunocytology.
Results:
There were significant differences in FCM-DNA ploidy, AgNOR staining, hTERT and PCNA expression between malignant and benign serous effusion. Compared with exfoliated cytology, the sensitivity of AgNOR staining was the highest (89.1%), the specificity of cytology, hTERT and PCNA expression was the highest (100%), and the accuracy of AgNOR staining and hTERT expression was the highest (89.6%). According to combination examination, the sensitivity was increased to 91.3% through combining cytology with hTERT expression.
Conclusion:
DNA aneuploidy, hTERT and PCNA expression and AgNOR counting increase are correlated to malignant serous effusion, and can be important auxiliary measures for serous cytology.
