Zheng W Q, Zhan R Z
Department of Pathology, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Anal Quant Cytol Histol. 1998 Feb;20(1):1-6.
To clarify the correlation between apoptosis and tumor cell proliferative activity in human breast cancer and to investigate their relevance to p53 protein.
Seventy-one breast carcinomas with histologic grading were analyzed, using counting of mitotic activity index (MAI) and apoptotic index (AI) to examine apoptosis and cellular proliferation, which were then compared with the expression of p53 protein by using a semiquantitative immunohistochemical method.
Both the mean MAI and AI were significantly higher in the grade 3 groups (18.30 +/- 2.18 SE, 13.58 +/- 1.94) and 2 (11.32 +/- 1.30, 9.96 +/- 1.84) than in the grade 1 groups (8.24 +/- 1.10, 8.30 +/- 2.20) (P < .001). Also, MAI/AI was significantly highest in the grade 3 group (P < .001). A significant correlation was found between MAI and AI (r = .767, P < .01). Positive expression of p53 protein, indicated by distinct nuclear staining, was found in 35 of 71 carcinomas and was related to neither MAI nor AI (P > .05); there was no significant relation between p53-positive scoring and histologic grading (P > .05).
Apoptosis in breast cancer seems to correlate with proliferative activity assessed by the mitotic index and supports the hypothesis that apoptosis may play a role in the selection of clonal subpopulations with high growth potential but is not regulated by the p53 system. Further research needs to be conducted to elucidate the relation between apoptosis and tumor progression and the significance of p53 in abnormalities in breast cancer.
阐明人类乳腺癌中细胞凋亡与肿瘤细胞增殖活性之间的相关性，并研究它们与p53蛋白的相关性。
分析71例有组织学分级的乳腺癌，通过计数有丝分裂活性指数（MAI）和凋亡指数（AI）来检测细胞凋亡和细胞增殖，然后采用半定量免疫组织化学方法将其与p53蛋白的表达进行比较。
3级组（18.30±2.18 SE，13.58±1.94）和2级组（11.32±1.30，9.96±1.84）的平均MAI和AI均显著高于1级组（8.24±1.10，8.30±2.20）（P<.001）。此外，3级组的MAI/AI显著最高（P<.001）。MAI与AI之间存在显著相关性（r=.767，P<.01）。71例癌中有35例发现p53蛋白阳性表达，表现为明显的核染色，且与MAI和AI均无关（P>.05）；p53阳性评分与组织学分级之间无显著关系（P>.05）。
乳腺癌中的细胞凋亡似乎与通过有丝分裂指数评估的增殖活性相关，并支持细胞凋亡可能在选择具有高生长潜力的克隆亚群中起作用，但不受p53系统调节这一假说。需要进一步研究以阐明细胞凋亡与肿瘤进展之间的关系以及p53在乳腺癌异常中的意义。
