[A comparison of proliferating cell nuclear antigen immunostaining, nucleolar organizer region staining in lung...

Seventy-three cases of lung cancer were studied using two different methods, immunostaining for the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and nucleolar organizer region staining (AgNORs), to assess the degree of cell proliferation. Both PCNA immunostaining and AgNOR staining were found to be significantly correlated with histological grade of lung cancer. The mean number of AgNOR per nucleus was found to be associated with LI of PCNA (r = 0.70, P < 0.01). The results suggest that the two proliferation-associated factors may be used as the additional diagnostic parameters in the grading of lung cancer.