Prognostic significance of p53 expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma without neck node metastases

Abstract

Background. Aberrations of the p53 gene and overexpression of its protein are widely recognized markers of malignancy including oral squamous cell carcinomas. This study was performed to evaluate the relationship of immunoexpression of p53 protein in series of 91 squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity with clinicopathologic parameters and to investigate whether p53 immunoexpression might influence the clinical outcome of the disease.Methods. From a group of 287 consecutive patients, 91 surgically treated ones were randomly selected. P53 protein expression was investigated by means of immunohistochemistry. Clinical and histopathologic data were gathered, and the patient survival was analyzed.Results. Of the oral carcinomas, 52.7% (n = 48) overexpressed p53, using a threshold of 10% stained cell nuclei. There was a negative correlation of p53 immunoexpression with a histologic grade of differentiation (r = À0.236, p = .06) but not with clinical variables. Overall survival rate was 59% at 5 years. In univariate analysis, tumor size, node status, and advanced clinical stage were significantly associated with shortened overall survival. In patients without neck node metastases, p53 showed a strong correlation with survival (p = .01). In multivariate analysis performed only on N0 patients, tumor extension and p53 immunoexpression were found to be the only independent prognostic parameters with relative risks of 1.9 and 4.3, respectively.Conclusions. A strong relationship was observed between p53 immunoexpression and poor prognosis in patients with oral squamous cell carcinomas without neck node metastases.

Ki-67 and p53 correlation prognostic value in squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity and tongue

“…Authors such as Oliveira et al 14,15 showed in their studies that p53 presence is correlated to a larger number of metastasis to lymph nodes and, consequently, with a worse prognosis. According to Carlos de Vicente et al 16 , the p53 immunoexpression had a worse prognosis in patients without metastasis to neck lymph nodes were strongly related. When p53 correlations were analyzed with other factors considered, such as gender (p = 0.28) and histological differentiation (p = 0.075) there was no statistical significance; however Kurokawa H et al 17 concluded that p53 overexpression on the borders of the tumor is associated with its histological grade (p < 0.05).…”

Overexpression of phosphorylated nuclear factor-kappa B in tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma and high-grade dysplasia is associated with poor prognosis

“…Since a potent proteasome inhibitor, Velcade (bortezomib, formerly called PS-341), has been shown to inhibit tumor growth, partially achieved by inhibiting DNAbinding activity of NF-kB, 26,27 such an inhibitor may have potential in treating head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Furthermore, p53 overexpression in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma has been associated with poor clinical outcome 28,29 and p53 appears to be an additional target for Velcade in several recent studies. [30][31][32] Velcade, targeting both NF-kB and p53, may be potentially important in controlling the growth of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.…”

A genetic view of laryngeal cancer heterogeneity

“…TP53 mutations are found in 39-53% of SCCHN tumors and in 56.7% of laryngeal carcinomas. 44,45 P53 mutations have been demonstrated to be related to poor survival in different publications by using microarray technology, 44 immunohistochemistry (IHC) 46 or single-strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) analysis followed by DNA sequencing. However, there is not necessarily correlation between IHC and SSCP results 45 ; moreover, decrease in survival can vary if the mutation is disruptive or nondisruptive.…”