Cytometric Evaluation of Intraepithelial Neoplasia of the Prostate Gland

Cell kinetic studies on prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) and atypical adenomatous hyperplasia (AAH) of the prostate

To investigate possible cell kinetic relations between benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), atypical adenomatous hyperplasia (AAH), prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) and carcinoma, cell kinetic analyses were performed using radiolabelled DNA-precursors (3H-thymidine autoradiography), immunohistochemistry (proliferation marker Ki67/MIB1 and/or PCNA) and silver staining of nucleolar organizer regions (AgNOR). All methods yielded the lowest values for BPH and AAH, while maximal values were found in carcinoma of high malignancy. PIN was equal to GII-carcinomas, while AAH was between BPH and carcinoma of low malignancy. This investigation ranks BPH, AAH, low grade carcinoma, PIN and high grade carcinoma in order using different methods of cell kinetic analysis. The preneoplastic character of PIN is apparent whereas the character of AAH remains uncertain.

Quantitation of the prostatic intra-epithelial neoplasia. Analysis of the nucleolar size, number and location

Correlation has previously been demonstrated between qualitative and quantitative architectural and cytological features of the prostatic intra-epithelial neoplasia. In the present study, a standard Zeiss microscope and a horizontal eyepiece micrometer were used in an attempt to quantitatively define the size, number and location of nucleoli in relation to the degree of prostatic intra-epithelial neoplasia and associated benign prostatic hyperplasia and adenocarcinoma. In total, 20 prostatectomies, where features of benign prostatic hyperplasia (20 cases), prostatic intra-epithelial neoplasia of grade 1 (10 cases) and grade 2 (10 cases), and adenocarcinoma (20 cases) were present, were studied. The quantitative analysis showed that, going from benign prostatic hyperplasia to prostatic intra-epithelial neoplasia of grade 1 and 2, and to adenocarcinoma, the values of the size-related nucleolar features, are progressively greater; when considering the frequency-related nucleolar features, the percentage of nucleolated nuclei increased sharply. This was associated with the decrease in the proportion of mononucleolated nuclei and increase in nuclei with two and three nucleoli. When considering the location-related nucleolar features, the degree of shift of the nucleoli to the periphery of the nucleus increased. Among all the quantitative features, the most evident changes in the nucleolar size were expressed by the nucleolar hypertrophy index after including in the calculation only those nucleoli with a diameter larger than 3 arbitrary units, whereas the percentage of nucleolated nuclei and the proportion of nuclei with two and three nucleoli best represented the modifications to the frequency.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)