Association of Ki67 Antigen With Mitotic Count, Tumor Size, and Necrosis in Neuroendocrine Tumors of Lung

Lung cancer is the most prevalent cancer in the world and one of the five most common cancers in Iran. The level of Ki67 biomarker is related to any of the factors affecting the grading of neuroendocrine lung tumors, which is used as one of the grading criteria and a criterion for assessing and predicting survival and prognostic factors. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between Ki67 antigen incidence and mitotic count, necrosis, tumor size in the neuroendocrine tumors of the lung.

The samples of this analytical descriptive study, including the neuroendocrine tumors of the lung in paraffin blocks were chosen from the pathology archive of Imam Reza hospital collected during the last 10 years. Ki67 antigen immunohistochemical procedures, along with mitotic count and necrosis were performed by a collaborator pathologist. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software and P-value less than 0.05 was considered a statistically significant level.

The mean incidence of Ki67 antigen in the neuroendocrine tumors of the lung was 57.7± 6.5 and the lowest and highest incidence was 1% and 90%, respectively. In addition, the relationship between Ki67 antigen incidence and mitotic count and necrosis were significant while no significant relationship was observed between Ki67 antigen incidence and tumor size in typical carcinoid tumors.

Overall, the Ki67 antigen is regarded as a useful and essential tool for grading neuroendocrine lung tumors