[Correlationship between proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression and clinicopathological factors in...

Forty paraffin-embedded samples of colorectal cancer were subjected to analysis of PCNA expression. The results were expressed as a PCNA labeling rate, defined as the percentage of the number of cells with nuclear staing/the total number of tumor cells counted. The mean labeling rate was 49.4 +/- 14.1%. There was no association between labeling rate and tumor size, gross type, histologic type, presence of lymph node metastasis, lymphatic vesel invasion, venous invasion, peritoneal metastasis. The rate, however, tended to be higher in cases with infiltration to other organs and hematogeneous metastasis positive than in cases without infiltration to other organs and hematogenous metastasis, respectively.