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Original
Article
Proliferative Index in
Different Grades of Invasive Breast Cancers using Argyrophilic Nucleolar
Organizer Region Expression in Sudanese Patients, 2018-2020
Sara H. A. Hamed 1,2*,
Nadia I. A. El Dawi 1,3
1Department
of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan.
2Pathology
Unit, Ahfad University for Women, Khartoum, Sudan.
3Department of Histopathology, Soba University
Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan.
*
Corresponding Author: Sara Hassan Abdulrahman Hamed, Email: srroalbeily@gmail.com
Abstract
Background: Breast cancer affects approximately 2.3 million women globally and
caused 670,000 deaths in 2022. Understanding its proliferative index is crucial
for improving diagnosis and treatment. This study aimed to establish a
correlation between the proliferative index using silver staining (AgNOR)
across different grades of breast cancer.
Method: This descriptive, retrospective, cross-sectional facility-based
study was performed at two laboratories in Khartoum State
between January 2018 and March 2020. The tissue blocks were compared with the
archived haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) slides to confirm the presence of
sufficient tissue for sectioning. H&E and modified AgNOR stains were
performed, in
each case. AgNOR dots were counted in 100 cells. The data collected were statistically analysed to generate Pearson
correlation coefficients and p-values, to compare the
values observed in each tumor grade and the values recorded for counting 100
and 50 tumor nuclei. The correlation between pAgNOR and the histological grades of
breast cancer was statistically analyzed.
Results: A total of 79 invasive breast carcinoma cases were evaluated. The
pAgNOR was less than 20% in 8 of the nine grade I cases (88.9%), less than 60%
in 15 out of the twenty grade II cases (75%) and more than 85% in 43 out of the
fifty grade III cases (86%). There was a strong direct correlation between
pAgNOR and histological grade of breast cancer with a p-value <0.001 and a
Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.899. There was a strong direct correlation
between counting AgNOR in 50 cells and the histological grades of breast cancer
with a p-value <0.001 and a Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.891.
Conclusion: pAgNOR highly correlates with the histological grade of invasive
breast carcinoma. AgNOR is a simple, rapid and cost-effective method for the
assessment of the proliferative status of invasive breast carcinoma.
Keywords: Breast cancer, Histological grade,
Nucleolar organizer region, pAgNOR,
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