Assessment of the proliferative marker Ki-67 and p53 Protein Expression in HBV-and HCV related-related hepatocelular carcinoma cases in Egypt

Chronic HBV and HCV infections are the major risk factors for the development of HCC through a multistep pathway that involves viral and non-viral dependent pathophysiological steps. Hepatic expression of the nuclear proliferative marker ki-67 and the p53 oncoprotein were found to be associated with poor outcome. So, the present study was done to evaluate the changes in expression of Ki-67 and p53 oncoprotein, and to determine p53 gene mutation in HBV/HCV-related HCC Egyptian patients. Eight HBV-and 22 HCV-positive HCC cases have been examined for the presence of p53 mutation by immunohistochemistry [IHC] and single-strand conformation polymorphism [SSCP], followed by direct DNA sequencing. HCV were genotyped by LiPA-II. Our results have shown that the proliferative marker ki-67 LI and p53 were highly expressed and significantly related to tumor grade in the Egyptian HCC cases [p < 0.05]. Also, p53 mutation was found in 16 HCC cases by IHC and in 14 HCC cases by SSCP, only 11 patients showed p53 mutation by sequencing. The highest mutation rate was scored for exon 7 [7 mutations] at codon 249; 4 out of 8 [50%] of HBV-related HCC cases and 3 out of 22 [13.6%] of HCV-related HCC cases, followed by exon 5 [3 mutations] at codons 133, 146, 176 in HCV-related HCC cases, then exon 8 at codon 275 in HCV-related HCC cases. The concordance between the IHC and sequencing analysis was 69%.The present study demonstrates the association between the proliferative marker ki-67 and p53 expression with the tumor grade of Egyptian HBV/HCV-related HCC cases. Our results also support the hypothesis that p53 mutations are rather a late event in the carcinogenesis. Also, they suggest that the final steps of hepatocarcinogenesis are common and independent of the aetiology of the viral infection

Significance of P53 and C-erb-B2 CO-expression in breast cancer: immunohistochemical study

Immunohistochemical expression of P53 and c-erb-B2 proteins in 80 breast carcinomas was examined. The study aimed at finding a relation between co- expression of P53 and c-erb-B2 and the biological behavior of these tumors. Expression of P53 protein was detected in 28 cases [35%] of the tumors examined, while 20 cases [25%] demonstrated positive immuno- reactivity for c-erb-B2. There was a significant association between P53 protein expression, primary tumor size and lymph node involvement. Also the incidence of c-erb-B2 positivity is significantly correlated with high tumor grade, lymph node involvement and large tumor size. Concomitant P53 and c- erb-B2 protein expression was demonstrated in 16 cases [20%] of the total 80 examined cases. Such tumors were characterized by high tumor grade, large tumor size, positive lymph node, metastases, and high percentage of ductal infiltrating [NOS] histological type