title: p53, p21 and p27 protein expression in head and neck cancer and their prognostic value.
abstract: 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.
authors: Department of Pathology, Division of Molecular Pathology, Amalia Fleming Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Kapranos
authors: G P
authors: GP
authors: Stathopoulos
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Manolopoulos
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Kokka
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Papadimitriou
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Bibas
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Yiotakis
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Adamopoulos
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: 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