Proliferative potential of meningiomas evaluated by proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression

Meningiomas are principally benign in nature. Some meningiomas, however, grow fast or recur even after total removal. The biological behavior of meningiomas often can not be predicted from conventional histopathological studies. A monoclonal antibody against proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was used to investigate the usefulness of the PCNA index as a parameter to estimate the proliferative activity of meningiomas. Fifty-two meningiomas were examined. The mean PCNA index of recurrent meningiomas (3.37 +/- 0.92%) was significantly higher than that of non-recurrent meningiomas (1.12 +/- 0.51%) (p < 0.005). The PCNA indices of recurrent cases were all higher than 2.0%. A semilog linear regression analysis between tumor doubling time and PCNA index showed a significant correlation (r = 0.90, p < 0.05). An inverse linear correlation between PCNA index and interval to recurrence was observed (r = 0.62, p < 0.05). A good linear correlation was also shown between PCNA index and BUdR labeling index (r = 0.88, p < 0.01). The results of this study suggest that, providing the methods of tissue processing, immunostaining and counting of positive nuclei are unified, the PCNA index is a useful parameter for estimating the biological behavior of meningiomas.