Accumulation of nuclear p53 protein and prognosis of astrocytomas in childhood and adolescence.
The aim of the study was to investigate whether nuclear immunopositivity for p53 is a factor of prognostic significance in astrocytomas of childhood and adolescence. Paraffin-embedded tissues of astrocytomas (10 WHO grade II, 11 WHO grade III) from 21 patients under 18 years of age, when operated for the first time, were studied immunohistochemically. We used a set of 6 different antibodies against p53, suitable for paraffin section (PAb1801, PAb240, DO-1, DO-7, BP53-12, CM-1). The intensity of the nuclear staining was scored and the percentage of stained nuclei counted. A tumor was scored positive if at least 10% of nuclei showed at least medium staining intensity with at least 1 primary antibody. No single antibody detected all cases designated immunopositive. This shows the advantage of using a set of antibodies. The time of survival in the immunopositive cases was significantly shorter, but immunopositivity was correlated with grade III (WHO). Comparing the time of survival between p53-immunopositive and -immunonegative grade III (WHO) astrocytomas no significant difference was found. We conclude that p53 immunoreactivity is not an independent unfavorable prognostic factor in astrocytomas of childhood and adolescence.
Drach
L M
LM
Institute of Neurology (Edinger-Institut), Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
Kammermeier
M
M
Neirich
U
U
Jacobi
G
G
Kornhuber
B
B
Lorenz
R
R
Schlote
W
W
D000293:Adolescent; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000032:analysis*
D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53