Nucleolar organizer regions in lining epithelium adjacent to squamous cell carcinoma of human oral mucosa

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Abstract
Background. The value of silver staining of nucleolar organizer regions (AgNOR) counts as a diagnostic aid has been reported for several neoplastic entities. Previous studies have proved the value of the morphometric evaluation of AgNOR in the detection of incipient cellular alterations. Methods. A morphometric analysis of AgNORs was performed in oral mucosa epithelium adjacent to squamous cell carcinoma compared with normal mucosa epithelium and the carcinomatous parenchyma. Results. Highly statistically significant differences in all 5 AgNOR-related parameters assessed were found between normal mucosa and mucosa adjacent to cancer. Conversely, the corresponding nuclear parameters failed to exhibit significant differences. The parameter AgNOR contour index plotted for individual cases affords a cutoff value that could prove useful in identifying epithelia at early stages of transformation. Conclusions. AgNOR evidenced significant variations in epithelium adjacent to oral squamous cell carcinoma, which did not exhibit morphologic signs of atypia. Based on this study, AgNOR would be a quantitative, discriminative aid, easy to monitor in a pathology laboratory, in detecting incipient cellular alterations. These findings contribute to the issue of early diagnosis and to the knowledge of tumoral growth. Cancer 1994; 73: 2674–9.