In vitro studies suggest that p53 codon 72 genotype alters the apoptotic capacity of p53 protein, with the 72 arginine (R) form of wild-type p53 harboring a greater apoptosis-inducing potential than the 72 proline (P) variant. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the association between the p53 codon 72 genotype and breast cancer survival was modified by p53 gene status. In our study, we examined the p53 codon 72 genotype and p53 mutations (through exons 4-9) in paraffin-embedded specimens from 414 breast cancer patients with a median follow-up of 8.2 years. We report that the p53 codon 72 genotype was significantly associated with disease-free survival (DFS, p 5 0.02) but not with disease-specific survival (DSS, p 5 0.24) in the entire study population (n 5 414). In contrast, the codon 72 genotype was strongly associated with both DFS (p 5 0.001) and DSS (p 5 0.04) among patients with a wild-type p53 tumor (n 5 346), patients with the P/P variant had worse DFS and DSS than did those with the P/R or R/R variant in this subgroup of patients. More importantly, as compared with the P/R or R/R variant, the P/P variant remained an independent prognostic factor of DFS among patients with a wild-type p53 tumor (HR 5 2.5; 95%CI 5 1.4-4.4; p 5 0.003). We conclude that the effect of p53 codon 72 genotype on breast cancer survival is dependent on p53 gene status, the P/P variant is strongly associated with poor prognosis among patients with a wild-type p53 tumor. ' 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Key words: breast cancer; p53 codon 72; p53 mutation; survival p53 tumor suppressor gene plays a central role in the induction of cell cycle arrest, senescence and apoptosis.1 Mutations of the p53 gene are associated with poor clinical outcome in many types of cancer, including breast cancer.2-6 A common polymorphism at codon 72 of p53 gene results in an arginine (R) to a proline (P) change. This polymorphism is located in the proline-rich domain, which is important in the apoptosis function of p53. Studies suggest that the two variants have different biochemical and apoptotic capacity, with the 72 R form of wild-type p53 harboring a greater apoptosis-inducing potential than the 72 P variant of wild-type p53.7-9 These functional differences between the 2 variants may alter the tumor response to systemic chemotherapy and affect the patient's clinical outcome. Our previous study suggested that breast cancer patients with the P/P variant are less likely to respond to primary anthracyclin-based chemotherapy.
10The prognostic role of p53 codon 72 genotype in cancer patient's outcome has not been fully established. A recent study showed that the codon 72 P/P variant is associated with poor clinical outcome in breast cancer, and the association is independent of p53 protein expression.11 This study examined the p53 status by using immunohistochemistry rather than DNA sequencing assay 11 ; however, numerous studies indicate that at least 30% of p53 mutations cannot be detected by immunohistochemistry. 6,12,13 Since in vitro studies stre...