High correlation with survival of proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression in mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid gland.

We tested the hypothesis that proliferating cell nuclear antigen can predict survival in patients with mucoepidermoid carcinoma. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded, tissue resected specimens from 43 patients with no prior treatment for mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid gland were immunostained with the PC10 monoclonal antibody to proliferating cell nuclear antigen with the peroxidase/antiperoxidase method. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen levels were defined as the number of nuclei with strong immunostaining divided by the total cell count and were expressed as percentages. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were performed on 12 additional prognostic variables to determine the relative proliferating cell nuclear antigen level to predict survival. The median proliferating cell nuclear antigen level was 7. Five percent of patients with proliferating cell nuclear antigen levels less than 7 died of their disease compared with 48% of those with proliferating cell nuclear antigen levels of 7 or more. Multivariate analysis indicates proliferating cell nuclear antigen to be the most important parameter in predicting survival. Thus the measurement of proliferating cell nuclear antigen is a useful predictor of survival for patients with mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid gland.