Significance of proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression in colorectal carcinomas

IM To study the significance of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression in colorectal carcinoma tissues.METHODS Using the monoclonal antibody to PCNA and SP immunohistochemical method, the expression of PCNA in 63 cases of paraffinembedded colorectal carcinoma tissues were semiquantitatively determined. Of the 63 patients, 23 had colon cancers, and 40 rectum carcinomas (33 men and 30 women, aged 26-76 years). The relationship between PCNA expression and tumor differentiation, invasion and lymph node metastasis in colorectal carcinomas were analyzed.RESULTS The number of cases of PCNA positive grade Ⅰ-Ⅳ in well, moderately, and poorlydifferentiated colorectal carcinoma groups were 12, 2,3,3;8,7,4,2; and 5,3,6,8, respectively. The expression of PCNA in poorlydifferentiated carcinomas was obviously higher than in well and moderatelydifferentiated carcinomas (P005,P005), and it was independent of tumor invasion and lymph metastasis (P005,P005).CONCLUSION The expression of PCNA can reflect the proliferating activities of colorectal carcinoma, and may be a useful index for studying the biological behavior of proliferation of colorectal carcinoma cells.