Assessment of the argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region area/nucleus ratio in ovarian serous epithelial adenomas, borderline tumors and cancers

INTRODUCTION: There is a need to assess the value of the novel potentially useful biomarkers in ovarian tumors. The aim of study was to assess the value of sAgNOR analysis in ovarian serous epithelial tumors. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The analysis was performed in ovaries from 113 patients treated operatively due to serous ovarian tumors (30 adenomas, 14 borderline tumors and 69 cancers). After silver staining of paraffin specimens from surgery, sAgNOR in tumor cells was analyzed. Additionally, the value of the argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region area/nucleus ratio (sAgNOR) in the prediction of disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in 52 patients with serous ovarian cancer with complete follow-ups in November 2009 was evaluated. Age, grading, radicality of surgery and FIGO staging were analyzed as additional factors. RESULTS: sAgNOR in adenomas, borderline tumors and cancers was in the following ranges: (0.73 ±0.23) × 10(6), (0.81 ±0.18) × 10(6) and (0.96 ±0.33) × 10(6) [AgNOR/cm(2)] respectively. In cancers from G1 to G3 sAgNOR was (1.02 ±0.32) × 10(6) (G1), (0.98 ±0.37) × 10(6) (G2) and (0.82 ±0.24) × 10(6) (G3) [AgNOR/cm(2)] respectively. In univariate analysis, but not in multivariate analysis, staging negatively correlated with better DFS and OS. sAgNOR, age of patients, grading and radicality of surgery were not associated with DFS or OS in either univariate or multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: sAgNOR analysis is not sufficient to precisely characterize cellular kinetics in serous ovarian tumors, and the analysis of sAgNOR, mAgNOR and pAgNOR should be performed commonly. The prognostic significance of sAgNOR in patients with serous ovarian cancer was not proven.