[Evaluation of mucosal proliferative activity by silver stained nucleolar organizer region proteins (Ag-NOR) in...

In order to investigate the diagnostic and prognostic utility, I measured the number and area of silver stained nucleolar organizer region proteins (Ag-NOR) in sections of surgical specimens from 71 patients with gallbladder diseases. The disease consisted of cholecystolithiasis without congenital anomaly in 20 patients, congenital biliary dilatation with anomalous arrangement of pancreaticobiliary ducts in 10, cholecystolithiasis with anomalous arrangement of pancreaticobiliary ducts without congenital biliary dilatation in 4, adenoma of the gallbladder in 5, and carcinoma of the gallbladder in 36. There was a significant difference between carcinoma and benign lesions in number of Ag-NOR, indicating that it may be a useful marker in discriminating cholecystopathic malignancy. The number of Ag-NOR was closely related with depth of invasion in carcinoma of the gallbladder, and there was a significant difference between carcinoma which invaded the tunica serosa and that which did not. The number of Ag-NOR was significantly lower in papillary adenocarcinoma than in moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma or adenosquamous carcinoma, suggesting that the proliferative activity and biological malignant potential are lower in the former.