[Analysis of prognostic factors of retinoblastoma]

To study the prognostic factors of retinoblastoma (RB).

Prospective case series study.With Envision System, surgical specimens from 31 RB cases were immunostained by using anti-NSE, GFAP and S-100 antibodies. Number of NSE positive cells was counted at 1000 tumor cells in each slice. The morphology of GFAP and S-100 stained positive cells were analyzed. All cases were followed-up for 5 to 17 years. Cox regression pattern was adopted to analyze the relationship between sex, age, stage, differentiation, number of NSE positive cells, the sizes of GFAP and S-100 positive cells, therapies and prognosis.

(1) Almost all cases were stained positively by anti-NSE antibodies. Positive rates of GFAP and S-100 expression specimens were 61.29% (19/31) and 58.06% (18/31), respectively. (2) The number of NSE positive cells was correlated with a better prognosis (P = 0.0361). The sizes of GFAP and S-100 stained area were also related with a better progress (P = 0.0430, 0.0477). In patients with a greater number of NSE stained cells (averaged 324/1000), the survival time was >/= 5 years. In patients with a less number of NSE stained cells (averaged 182/1000), the survival time was less than 5 years. (3) There was a significant correlation between the number of NSE stained cells and the results for GFAP and S-100 staining (r = 0.547, 0.581), respectively.

The number of NSE positive cells is correlated with a better prognosis of RB. The expression of GFAP and S-100 protein are also correlated with a better prognosis of RB. The number of NSE positive cells and the expression of GFAP and S-100 protein may be regarded as the standards in judging the degree of differentiation of RB, and may be used as one of criteria for the estimation of the prognosis.