Silver colloid staining technique for analysis of glioma malignancy.

A silver colloid staining technique for identifying nucleolar organizer region-associated proteins (Ag-NOR's) was applied to 51 human gliomas. These comprised 20 glioblastomas multiforme, 15 anaplastic astrocytomas, and 16 astrocytomas, in which the mean numbers of Ag-NOR's per cell (+/- standard error of the mean) were 2.51 +/- 0.12, 2.01 +/- 0.10, and 1.76 +/- 0.06, respectively. Significant differences among these were recognized, and the mean number of Ag-NOR's paralleled the degree of histopathological malignancy. In 16 cases, studies were performed of the number of Ag-NOR's and the S-phase fraction by in vitro labeling using antibromodeoxyuridine monoclonal antibody. A linear relationship was demonstrated between these two factors (r = 0.857, p less than 0.001), although some scatter was seen. In 32 adult patients, the correlation between the number of Ag-NOR's and the prognosis was estimated. The results demonstrated that the group containing patients with less than 1.80 Ag-NOR's per cell had a better prognosis than the group with 1.80 Ag-NOR's or more. Thus, the number of Ag-NOR's reflected the degree of histopathological malignancy, S-phase fraction, and prognosis. Silver colloid staining for Ag-NOR's is a simple, rapid, and reproducible method for estimating the proliferative potential of human gliomas without requiring a complicated technique.