Potential doubling time and tumour doubling time in meningiomas and neurinomas

Cell kinetic study plays an important role in treatment planning of brain tumour patients. MIB-1 antibody has recently become available, which detects Ki-67 antigen even in the formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded specimens. We performed MIB-1 immunostaining in 50 meningiomas and 50 neurinomas, and estimated the cell cycle time (tc) and potential doubling time (Tpot) from MIB-1 staining index (MIB-1 SI) and mitotic index (MI). MIB-1 SI logarithmically correlated with MI in both meningiomas and neurinomas. The tc and the Tpot were expressed as a function of the mitosis time (tm), while the tm is known to be around one hour and not exceeding two hours. When the tm was assumed to be one hour, the average tcs of meningiomas and neurinomas were 6.53 +/- 3.56 days and 7.67 +/- 3.27 days, respectively. The Tpots were 447 X (MIB-1 SI)-1.29 X tm in meningiomas, and 490 X (MIB-1 SI)-0.98 X tm in neurinomas. The tumour doubling times (Tds) were calculated from serial imaging studies in 22 neurinomas and 15 meningiomas. The Tds were formulated as 794 X (MIB-1 SI)-0.83 in meningiomas and 1380 X (MIB-1 SI)-0.97 in neurinomas. Most of the Tds correlated well with the Tpots in meningiomas and neurinomas, and exceeded values of the Tpot when the tm is assumed to be one hour, although a few tumours showed unexpectedly longer Tds. The Tpot and the to estimated from MIB-1 SI and MI are clinically useful parameters for predicting the growth potential of meningiomas and neurinomas where no other simple methods are available.