The Relationship between AgNORs and PCNA Indices, Histopathological Appearance and Clinical Factors, as Prognostic Factor for Canine Oral Melanoma

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the relationship between histopathological appearance and clinical data, Argyrophilic Nucleolar Organizer Regions (AgNORs) and Proliferative Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) indices in canine oral melanoma. A retrospective study was performed on biopsy specimens from 67 dogs submitted over the year 2000 to 2003 to the Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University. Our results showed that the average AgNORs index did not show any significant differences with histopathological characteristics and Masson-Fontana Silver (MFS) stain but the AgNORs index showed significant differences when compared with histological grading and tumor diameter size (p < 0.05). The average PCNA index did not show significant differences with histopathological characteristics, grading, and MFS stain but did not show significant differences with the sex of affected dogs and tumor diameter size (p < 0.05). AgNORs and PCNA indices might be useful as a prognostic factor for oral melanoma in dogs