title: p53 immunohistochemical positivity as a prognostic marker in intracranial tumours.
abstract: The frequency and scale of positive p53 immunohistochemistry in 107 intracranial tumours of different types was studied as a possible prognostic marker using a polyclonal antibody CM-1 which detects both the wild-type and mutated p53 proteins. Fifty of the tumours (46.7%) showed nuclear p53 positivity with different percentages of positive nuclei. The positivity was concentrated in glial tumours of which 52.8% were positive. Forty-two of seventy-four astrocytomas (56.8%), 4 of 12 oligodendrogliomas (33.3%), and 1 of 3 ependymomas (33.3%) showed p53-positive nuclei. Cytoplasmic positivity, found in 25 astrocytomas, was always associated with nuclear positivity. Some p53-positive nuclei were seen in 16.7% of the non-gliomatous tumours, but in all cases p53 positivity was seen in less than 1% of the nuclei. The patients with astrocytomas containing more than 5% p53-positive nuclei were younger (mean 27.3 years) (p = 0.016) and their tumours larger in diameter (mean 4.4 cm) (p = 0.05) than those with p53-negative astrocytomas (mean 41.0 years and mean 3.3 cm, respectively). In p53-positive (> or = 1% of nuclei) grade IV astrocytomas, survival time was significantly shorter (mean 7.2 months) than in p53-negative grade IV astrocytomas (mean 15.5 months (p = 0.024). The results indicate frequent p53 expression in intracranial tumours, especially in gliomas. The association of p53 positivity with young age, larger tumour size, and poor prognosis in high-grade astrocytomas suggests that p53 may be involved in the development of more aggressive types of intracranial tumours. According to these results, p53 immunohistochemical positivity may serve as a prognostic marker in high-grade astrocytomas.
authors: Department of Pathology, University of Oulu, Finland.
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Soini
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Niemelä
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Kamel
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Herva
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Bloigu
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Pääkkö
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Vähäkangas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D005910:Glioma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D011379:Prognosis; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53