RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The value and significance of nucleolar organizer region proteins as markers of malignancy in breast cancer patients
JF Saudi Medical Journal
JO Saudi Med J
FD Prince Sultan Military Medical City
SP 1028
OP 1033
DO 10.15537/smj.2024.45.10.20240483
VO 45
IS 10
A1 Salih, Magdi M.
A1 Abdulgafor, Dooaa A.
A1 Dahlawi, Haytham A.
A1 Khalifa, Eman H.
YR 2024
UL http://smj.org.sa/content/45/10/1028.abstract
AB Objectives: To assess argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) in 60 patients with primary breast carcinoma and evaluated their association with clinical prognostic parameters of breast cancer.Methods: Argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions were stained in paraffin sections of the tissues using Ploton’s silver method. For each sample, the number of AgNORs within the nuclei of 100 tumor cells was counted. The average number of AgNORs per nucleus was calculated, and the results were expressed as mean.Results: The number of AgNORs was significantly higher in breast invasive ductal carcinoma (6.6) compared to benign breast tumors (fewer than 2.0). However, differences in AgNOR counts across different age groups were not statistically significant.Conclusion: This study suggests that AgNOR counts could be used as a potential procedure for estimating proliferation characteristics in histopathological sections of benign and malignant breast lesions. Argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region counts may also be valuable for identifying high-risk patients and indicating tumor aggressiveness. A larger study with an increased sample size that incorporates both AgNOR numbers and Ki67 scores for assessing cell kinetics is needed to confirm our findings.