Cell cycle and proliferation markers in neuroepithelial tumors

Cell proliferation is characteristic, though non specific, of tumors. The cell cycle is regarded as a clock with ordered activation of protein complexes triggering initiation and advancement through checkpoints. The cell cycle and its control mechanisms are briefly described herein focusing on neuroepithelial tumors. The assessment of cell proliferation in brain tumors is a very important tool in diagnosis and especially in prognosis. It can be performed by different methods: counting mitoses, calculating the labeling index (Ll) of [3H] Thymidine, BrdU, Ki-67, MIB.1, PCNA, cytometry and AgNORs. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. The main obstacles to the usefulness of different Lls in establishing prognosis in individual cases are sampling error, heterogeneity of the proliferation potential of brains tumors and the wide overlapping of Ll ranges between classic and anaplatic variants. The principal findings are critically described and commented upon.