PCNA--a cell proliferation marker in vocal chord cancer. Part I: Premalignant laryngeal lesions.

Laryngeal hyperkeratotic lesions can progress to fully developed malignant carcinoma in some cases. These premalignant lesions are proliferative disorders whose potential for further tumour progression is perhaps difficult to assess by mere histology. Immunostaining with PCNA, a protein correlated with cell proliferation, has been used to study tissue behavior in 30 cases of premalignant laryngeal vocal chord lesions treated by epithelial stripping in microlaryngoscopy, 15 of whom had no progression and 15 had recurrence and final development of full malignancy. The results showed a statistically significantly higher PCNA-index in the cases which underwent further tumour progression towards malignancy. PCNA testing may thus be suggested as a marker for tumour progression potential and help in determining clinical treatment choices.