Prognostic impact of p53 and p63 immunoexpression in oral squamous cell carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
The role of p53 and p63 proteins in the prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is still debatable. Our aim here was to investigate the relationship between the immunoexpression of these proteins with some clinicopathologic parameters of prognostic significance in OSCC.


METHODS
Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded sections from 106 patients were used for study together with the following data: primary site, histologic differentiation, recurrences, metastasis, disease-free survival and overall survival (OS).


RESULTS
In OSCCs, the positive rate for p63 protein immunoexpression (87.8%) was higher than p53 (52.8%). p53 expression correlated with metastasis. Tumors negative for p53 and with strong intensity for p63 expression had a significantly higher OS.


CONCLUSIONS
p53 overexpression is associated with a larger number of metastases and is correlated with a poor outcome as well as decreased intensity in p63 immunoexpression.
de Oliveira
Lucinei Roberto
LR
Department of Pathology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Brazil. lucinei@yahoo.com
Ribeiro-Silva
Alfredo
A
Zucoloto
Sérgio
S
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D011379:Prognosis; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D014157:Transcription Factors; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C115051:TP63 protein, human; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins