p53, p21 and p27 protein expression in head and neck cancer and their prognostic value.
Histological specimens from 62 laryngeal and 31 oral carcinomas were immunohistochemically assessed for p53, p21 and p27 proteins; cases with > 10% labelled nuclei were considered as positive. p21 showed higher expression in patients > 65-years-old (P = 0.04), in chemotherapy responders (P = 0.02), and in stage III patients with longer overall survival (P = 0.02), representing the only independent prognostic factor in the multivariate analysis. In addition, stage III patients with p53-/p21+ showed the longest survival whereas those with p53+/p21- tumors showed the shortest overall survival (P = 0.02). A significant influence on the survival of stage III patients was also found for the combinations of p21 and p27 proteins with p21+/p27- imparting the best and p21-/p27+ the worst prognosis (P = 0.04). p27 expression was significantly related to oral cancer specimens (P = 0.04) and to moderate and high tumor grade (P = 0.01). p53 expression was not significantly related to any of the examined clinicopathological characteristics. Our findings indicated that, by functionally promoting apoptosis, p21 seems to play a key role in the successful response to chemotherapy and may be considered as a predictive factor of a better prognosis in stage III patients with head and neck cancers.
Kapranos
N
N
Department of Pathology, Division of Molecular Pathology, Amalia Fleming Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Stathopoulos
G P
GP
Manolopoulos
L
L
Kokka
E
E
Papadimitriou
C
C
Bibas
A
A
Yiotakis
J
J
Adamopoulos
G
G
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D050759:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21; D050760:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27; D016213:Cyclins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D016158:Genes, p53; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D015993:Life Tables; D008297:Male; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins
C493956:CDKN1A protein, human; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D050759:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21; D016213:Cyclins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins; D050760:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27