The AgNORs

The structure and the function of interphase AgNORs and the importance of the "AgNOR" parameter in tumor pathology have been reviewed. Interphase AgNORs are structural-functional units of the nucleolus in which all the components necessary for ribosomal RNA synthesis are located. Two argyrophilic proteins involved in rRNA transcription and processing, nucleolin and nucleophosmin, are associated with interphase AgNORs and are responsible for their stainability with silver methods, thus allowing interphase AgNORs to be visualized at light microscopic level, also in routine cyto-histopathological preparations. The number of interphase AgNORs is strictly related to rRNA transcriptional activity and, in continuously proliferating cells, to the rapidity of cell proliferation. Evaluation of the quantitative distribution of interphase AgNORs has been applied in tumor pathology both for diagnostic and prognostic purposes. The "AgNOR" parameter has been proved to represent a reliable tool for defining the clinical outcome of cancer disease, being an independent prognostic factor in many types of tumors. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.