title: Prognostic value of immunohistochemical expression of p53 in patients with pancreatic cancer.
abstract: The prognostic value of the immunohistochemical expression of p53 was evaluated in 133 patients with pancreatic cancer. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded specimens of ductal pancreatic adenocarcinomas retrieved at the time of operation were stained with the monoclonal antibody DO-7. Approximately half of the tumors (47%) showed a high level of p53 immunoreactivity (> or = 20% positive nuclei). No correlation was demonstrated between the level of p53 immunoreactivity and age of the patient, gender, TNM stage, resectability or site of the tumor. A high level of p53 staining was seen in a slightly smaller proportion (30%) of patients with well-differentiated tumors than in patients with moderately (50%) or poorly differentiated (50%) tumors, but the difference was not significant. In a multivariate survival analysis, stage, grade and postoperative chemotherapy emerged as independent prognostic factors. Surgical resectability, if entered instead of stage as a variable in a separate Cox model, predicted prognosis independently. In univariate analysis, the site of the tumor was also a significant prognostic variable. However, no association between the level of p53 immunoreactivity and survival in either uni- or multivariate analysis was found.
authors.affiliation: Fourth Department of Surgery, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lundin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nordling
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: von Boguslawsky
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Haglund
mesh_terms: D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53