title: An immunohistochemical study of bcl-2 and p53 protein expression in pancreatic carcinomas.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Only a few articles have examined the relationship between bcl-2 expression and clinical findings or bcl-2 expression and p53 expression in pancreatic carcinomas.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated bcl-2 protein and p53 protein expression by means of immunohistochemical methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The immunostaining for bcl-2 was positive in 16 (20%) of 81 cases of pancreatic carcinoma. There were no significant correlations between bcl-2 expression and the age, gender, region of sampling, or clinical stage of the patients. Bcl-2 protein was detected more frequently in histologically high-grade pancreatic carcinomas (grade III, 31%; grade II, 14%; grade I, 0%); however, there was no significant difference in prognosis between patients with and without bcl-2 protein expression. Immunostaining for the p53 protein was positive in 45 (56%) of 81 cases of pancreatic carcinoma. There was no significant correlation between bcl-2 protein expression and p53 protein expression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bcl-2 was often detected in histologically high-grade pancreatic carcinomas, although there was no significant correlation between bcl-2 expression and the prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Surgery and Surgical Basic Science, Kyoto University, Japan.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ohshio
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suwa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Imamura
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamaki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Imamura
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000032:analysis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D015996:Survival Rate; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53