title: Preoperative serum antibodies against the p53 protein in patients with ovarian and endometrial cancer.
abstract: Antibodies against the p53 protein were measured with a sandwich-type enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in blood samples preoperatively collected from 30 patients with ovarian cancer and 30 patients with endometrial cancer. Anti-p53 antibodies were detected in 33.3% of patients with ovarian cancer, comprising 22.2% of the 9 patients with stage I-II disease, 30.8% of the 13 patients with stage III disease, and 50.0% of the 8 patients with stage IV disease. Anti-p53 antibodies were found in none of the 4 patients with well differentiated tumors and in 38.5% of the 26 patients with moderately or poorly differentiated tumors. Among the 21 patients with stage III-IV disease, a complete clinical response to front-line platinum-based chemotherapy was obtained by 46.2% of the 13 patients without anti-p53 antibodies and 25.0% of the 8 patients with anti-p53 antibodies. Antibodies against the p53 protein were detected in only 6.7% of patients with endometrial cancer. The low incidence of anti-p53 antibodies in patients with endometrial cancer seems to suggest that the serum assay of these autoantibodies has a limited clinical relevance in the management of this malignancy. On the other hand in patients with ovarian cancer the incidence of serum anti-p53 antibodies is relatively high, and, moreover, it seems to increase with tumor stage and grade and seems to be associated with a lower response rate to chemotherapy. However, the small number of patients did not allow us to obtain statistically significant differences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gadducci
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferdeghini
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Buttitta
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fanucchi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Annicchiarico
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Prontera
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bevilacqua
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Genazzani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood*; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016190:Carboplatin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D016190:Carboplatin; D002945:Cisplatin