AgNORs in duct epithelial lesions in chronic pancreatitis and in pancreas cancer cells.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) reflect the proliferative activity of cells. Since the majority of pancreatic cancers are ductal carcinomas, the aim of the study was to determine the AgNORs expression of potential pre-neoplastic ductal epithelial lesions in advanced chronic pancreatitis compared with pancreatic cancer cells. METHODOLOGY: Histological preparations obtained from 24 patients with chronic pancreatitis and 16 patients with pancreatic cancer were used to estimate the number of AgNORs per nucleus. Four types of AgNORs were distinguished and histograms with cell percentage of each type were performed for all forms of epithelial anomalies. RESULTS: In simple hyperplasia, squamous and mucous metaplasia the number of AgNORs ranged from 1.92 to 2.23; type I was predominant. In papillary hyperplasia, dysplasia and in situ carcinoma the number ranged from 2.98 to 3.34, with a predominance of type II-IV. In invasive carcinoma the number was 4.29 and 74% of cells were of type II-IV. CONCLUSIONS: Both counts of AgNORs and the percentage of type II-IV cells showed a gradual increase from simple hyperplasia through papillary hyperplasia and dysplasia to invasive carcinoma which in this respect differs significantly from all forms of the epithelial anomalies examined.