Morphometrical analysis of nucleolin immunohistochemistry

Nucleolin (110 kDa) is a major nucleolar pro- tein in eukaryotic cells and one of the nucleolar organizer region (NOR)-associated proteins. We studied immuno- histochemically 32 cases of meningioma, using specific antisera against nucleolin, and analyzed various nucleolin parameters, such as the number of regions and the total area of nucleolin staining per nucleus. The mean number and area of nucleolin stainings per nucleus were com- pared with the histological malignancy and Ki-67/MIB-1 proliferation index; the correlation with parameters of sil- ver-stained NOR (AgNOR) was also studied. The results showed that there were statistically significant differences in the mean number and area of nucleolin stainings per nu- cleus between meningiomas and other two groups, atypi- cal and anaplastic meningiomas (P < 0.05), although there was no difference between atypical and anaplastic menin- giomas. The mean number and area of nucleolin stainings per nucleus were correlated with the incidence of Ki-67 positivity and AgNOR area. In view of the technical prob- lems inherent in AgNOR staining, immunohistochemistry for nucleolin may represent a more specific and repro- ducible means for NOR visualization and be a promising technique for assessing cell proliferation.