title: Serum evaluation of P53 protein in patients with gynaecological cancer.
abstract: Sera from patients with gynaecological cancer including the ovary, endometrium or cervix were examined for p53 protein, using the Pantropic p53 quantitative ELISA. Patients with benign gynaecological pathologies were included as a control group. p53 values ranged from undetectable to high levels of the protein (range: 0-531 pg/ml). Using the value of 200 pg/ml as the cut-off, p53 serum levels were found to be elevated in 23% of the patients with ovarian cancer, in 16% of the patients with endometrial cancer and in 14% of the patients with cervical cancer. In the control group, increased serum p53 levels were found in 3.3% of patients. No differences were observed among the groups with different types of cancer or at different stages, but the differences between the cancer groups and the control group were statistically significant. Our results suggest that serum p53 evaluation could be an adjunctive tool to the diagnostic laboratory tests for preoperatively gynaecological cancers and both a competitive and alternative useful procedure for the detection of p53 gene mutations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetric, Gynaecologic and Pediatric Sciences, University of Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barbati
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mariani
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Porpora
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anceschi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Collini
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lauro
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Cosmi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005831:Genital Diseases, Female / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000097:blood*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53