ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Although ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death among all cancers of the female reproductive tract, the genetic alterations involved in ovarian cancer remains largely unknown. Recently, mutations of the p53 gene have been documented in many types of human cancer including ovarian cancer. METHODS: In tbe present study, p53 gene mutation was examined in DNA samples extracted from paraffin embedded surgical specimens of ovarian cancer. Furthermore, clinicopathological parameters were examined in relation to p53 gene mutation in order to understand the role of p53 mutation in the development of ovarian cancer. Using the polymerase chain reaction(PCR) and single strand conformational polymarphism(PCR-SSCP), p53 gene mutation was examined and the mutations were confirmed by DNA scquencing in 17 cases of ovarian cancer. RESULTS: Abnormal bands indicating mutation were detected in 2/17(11.8%). DNA sequencing confirmed in 2 mutations and revealed C to T and A to T nucleotide chmges. In clinicopathological parameters, FIGO stage, grade, and recunence were not correlated with the p53 gene mutation. However, the recurrence rate was higher in patients with mutant p53 compared with those with wild type p53(50.0% vs 13.3%), altbough this is not statisticaUy significant. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, p53 gene mutation shows no correlation with stage, grade and recurrence, and p53 gene mutation does not appear to be a marker that predicts the biological behavior or the outmme of the disease. This study suggested useful data to elucidate the mechanism of chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer and further p53 expression assay would be mandatory for p53 nonfunctioning ovarian cancas.