PROLIFERATION/APOPTOSIS INDEX——A NEW TOOL IN EVALUATING THE MALIGNANT DEGREE OF GLIOMAS / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

To establish the proliferation and apoptosis index(P/AI), and to explore its relationship to the malignant degree of gliomas. Specimens of normal brain tissues obtained from 8 patients undergoing decompression operation for head injury, and 69 paraffin-embedded specimens and 26 fresh specimens of the glioma were studied. Immunohistochemical staining of proliferation cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP DIG nick end labeling(TUNEL) were used to determine the proliferation and apoptosis rates of the glioma. Grading was defined by the ratio between PCNA positive rate and TUNEL positive rate (P/AI). An increase in P/AI denoted an increase in malignancy. It was found that P/AI of normal brain tissue was 0.2-1.5. In 85.1% of grades Ⅰ and Ⅱ gliomas, P/AI was lower than 2.5 and while in 91.7% of grades Ⅲ and Ⅳ gliomas P/AI was 2.5. There were significant differences between normal group, grades Ⅰ and Ⅱ and grades Ⅲ and Ⅳ over gliomas (P