Overexpression of p53 as a Prognostic Marker in Breast Cancer

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The treatment plan for breast cancer depends on the axillary lymph-node status. Because of improved screening methods, the number and the proportion of node-negative patients are increasing, leading to a need to search for a reliable prognostic marker. Assessment of prognostic markers, is of major concern for the application of adjuvant treatment regimens, independenent of the axillary lymph-node status. METHODS: The study samples consisting of 96 primary breast cancer tissues were analyzed immunohistochemically for the presence of p53 protein in a paraffin-embedded material. The reaction to monoclonal mouse anti-human p53 protein (DAKO-p53, DO-7) (DAKO, Denmark) produced our experimental data. RESULTS: Nuclear accumulation of the p53 protein suspected to be an independent marker of dedifferentiation, regardless of the lymph-node status. In our study the p53 positivity was 56.25% (54/96), and statistically p53 positivity was not affected by menopausal status, lymph-node metastasis, tumor size, age, presence of the estrogen receptor and the progesterone receptor, and pathologic grading. CONCLUSION: We weren't able to prove statistically that overexpression of p53 is an independent prognostic factor in breast cancer. With more cases of breast cancer involving the monoclonal antibody, a study of the correlation of overall survival and disease-free survival with lymph-node metastasis, pathologic grade, and p53 overexpression is necessary to decide on an early breast-cander treatment modality by using a prognostic marker such as p53.