Prognostic significance of nuclear DNA levels in prostatic carcinoma.

Cytological smears prepared from fine needle aspiration biopsies of prostatic carcinoma were subjected to cytophotometric DNA analysis. A method was developed by which old May-Grünwald-Giemsa (MGG) stained smear preparations could be used for quantitative cytophotometric DNA determinations after the removal of the MGG stain and restaining specifically for DNA according to a modified Feulgen reaction. Up to 15 years old MGG-stained smears from 43 patients diagnosed as having prostatic carcinomas were so processed and submitted to cytophotometric analysis. The 43 patients were selected on the basis of the clinical response to hormone therapy. Patient group I (21 patients) showed a good response with survival without clinical evidence of cancer for at least five years. Patient group II (22 patients) showed a poor response with death from cancer within three years. Most of the carcinomas belonging to patient group I, were characterized by a diploid or a combined diploid-tetraploid DNA distribution pattern, while in carcinomas from patient group II, most of the cancer cells generally contained abnormally increased DNA amounts. In this second group some of the tumours exhibited clearly aneuploid modal distribution patterns with DNA values ranging from the hypotriploid level to the hypertetraploid level, while in other tumours a large intercellular variability in DNA content was the characteristic feature.