Background: Alteration in the expression of p53 tumor-suppressor protein is an event that occurs frequently in human cancer, but the practical implications of this phenomenon are yet to be fully exploited.
Objectives: to determine the value of p53 expression as a marker of tumor aggressiveness and the relationship between p53 over expression and clinico-pathologic variables in gastric adenocarcinoma.
Material & Methods: The expression of p53 was studied immunohisto-chemically in 10 cases with gastric dysplasia and 85 cases with gastric adenocarcinomas using formalin fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples. D07 a monoclonal antibody to p53 protein was used for the immunehistochemical analysis. The correlation between p53 expression in gastric dysplasia, gastric adenocarcinoma and clinicopathologic variables were analyzed.
Results: P53 positivity was found in 48.2% of gastric carcinoma cases, and 40% of gastric dysplasia. There was a significant correlation between the rate of p53 over expression and tumor grade (p = 0.015), and also with carcinomas associated with lymph node involvement (p = 0034). There was no significant association between p53 protein expression and histological type (p = 0.171). The association between p53 protein expression and the depth of tumour invasion was found to be statistically insignificant.
Conclusion: The results obtained suggest that P53 protein expression is a useful biomarker for the assessment of gastric adenocarcinoma aggressiveness. The preoperative assessment of p53 expression in gastric carcinomas can be helpful in identifying patients with higher grades and more advanced tumors. P53 immunoreactivity can predict lymph node status in patients with gastric carcinoma.