Aim: To assess the prognostic significance of nucleolar morphological parameters in a large cohort of patients with uveal melanoma.
Patients and methods: The presence, size and number of nucleoli of cancer cells were assessed in haematoxylin and eosin (HE)-stained slides of 164 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded primary uveal melanoma tissue specimens. The results were correlated with clinicopathological features and patient survival.
Results: The presence of macronucleoli and multiple nucleoli significantly correlated with the epithelioid type of uveal melanoma, high mitotic rate, and marked pleomorphism. There was a positive correlation between the presence of macronucleoli as well as the number of nucleoli and the largest tumour basal diameter. The increased nucleolus count in tumour cells positively correlated with primary tumour (pT) staging. The presence of both prominent and multiple nucleoli was associated with significantly reduced overall and disease-free survival.
Conclusion: Histological assessment of nucleolar morphology in routine HE staining would be a helpful low-cost method to obtain reliable prognostic information.
Keywords: H&E staining; Nucleolus; prognosis; uveal melanoma.
Copyright© 2020, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.