Most of them demonstrate that MIB-1 LI differentiates well between diffuse astrocytomas WHO grade II (AII) and anaplastic astrocytomas (AA) and between AII and glioblastomas (GM), but not between AA and GM.
We prepared polyclonal anti-survivin serum to establish a survivin index for stained sections, using an immunohistochemical procedure, according to the method used for scoring MIB-1 index, and then stained 29 paraffin-embedded sections from surgical specimens of 29 patients who were classified into three grades of World Health Organization with the mean age of low grade astocytoma (grade II) being 34.7; anaplastic astrocytoma (grade III), 48.8; and glioblastoma multiform (grade IV), 58.4.
A total of 63 astrocytic tumors [27 glioblastomas (GBM), 19 anaplastic astrocytomas (AA), 17 low-grade astrocytomas (LGA)] and 5 normal brain tissues were immunohistochemically stained with antibodies to TP, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), p53, MIB-1, and factor-VIII-related antigen.
In grade II and anaplastic astrocytomas, telomerase activity was an indicator of early histological progression and reduced survival of the patients, although there was no difference in MIB-1 staining indices between the tumors with and without telomerase activity at onset.
To elucidate the role of gemistocytes in astrocytoma progression, we assessed the fraction of neoplastic gemistocytes, bcl-2 expression, p53 mutations, p53 immunoreactivity (PAb 1801), and proliferative activity (MIB-1) in 40 low-grade astrocytomas (World Health Organization (WHO) Grade II) with histologically proven progression to anaplastic astrocytoma (WHC Grade III) or glioblastoma (WHO Grade IV).