Argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions in breast-carcinoma - correlation with clinicopathological and biological...

We investigated the relationship of argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (Ag-NOR) with clinico-pathologic and biologic variables, and its prognostic value in 127 patients with invasive breast carcinoma, Ag-NOR count was found to be significantly correlated with these variables, including DNA ploidy and c-erbB-2 expression. Although Ag-NOR count was a significant prognostic factor in overall and disease-free survival on univariate analysis, it did not appear to be an independent prognostic factor on multivariate analysis, in which status was introduced into the model. In patients in whom regional lymph node dissection has not been performed, however, Ag-NOR count may provide important prognostic information, especially when combined with c-erbB-2 expression.