舌へん平上皮癌の増殖細胞核抗原（ＰＣＮＡ）による免疫組織化学的検討

Abstract

We evaluated whether the degree of malignancy of tongue squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is reflected in the distribution of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). The PCNA labelling index (LI) was investigated in relation to the histological differentiation and the survival rate of tongue carcinoma patients.The initial biopsy specimens of tongue SCC from 38 cases were fixed with 10% formalin, processed conventionally, sectioned and immunohistochemically stained using anti-PCNA antibody, PC 10 (DAKO, Denmark). The cells positive for immunostaining were counted under a microscope to obtain the PCNA LI.The results were as follows. The PCNA LI was 11.8 ±6.9%(n=7) in normal epithelium of the tongue. In contrast, a high LI was noted in SCC of the tongue, being 30.2± 13.4%(n=38). With respect to histological differentiation, the PCNA LI immunostaining was high (M ± SD=35.2 ± 12.3) in moderately-poorly differentiated carcinomas (n=23), and low (M ± SD=22.5 ± 11.2) in well differentiated carcinomas (n=15). Concerning the prognosis, survival rate was high (86.8%) in cases with low PCNA LI (<30.0) and low (63.7%) in cases with high PCNA LI (≥30.0).These results indicated that the PCNA LI is closely associated with the differentiation of carcinomas, and the prognosis of patients with SCC of the tongue. In addition, the PCNA LI was helpful in assessing the degree of malignancy of tongue carcinomas.