A. Harlozinska et al., EXPRESSION OF P53 PROTEIN AND KI-67 REACTIVITY IN OVARIAN NEOPLASMS -CORRELATION WITH HISTOPATHOLOGY, American journal of clinical pathology, 105(3), 1996, pp. 334-340
The expression of Ki-67 proliferation antigen and its relation to p53
protein was assessed immunohistochemically in malignant and benign ova
rian neoplasms, considering the stage of disease and histology of tumo
rs. The comparison of p53 and Ki-67 in tissue sections and respective
cyst and/or ascitic fluid cells was also performed. Significant hetero
geneity of staining was observed, However, the relationship between p5
3 and Ki-67 activity in tissue sections and loose cells in individual
patients was evident. Moreover, the presence of Ki-67 antigen was clos
ely correlated with p53 protein. It was observed the trend for serous
carcinoma to have a higher Ki-67 and p53 positivity versus endometrioi
d and mucinous carcinomas, However, it Has not statistically significa
nt, Both growth fraction as measured by Ki-67 staining and p53 content
were significantly higher in stages III and IV compared to stages I a
nd II of ovarian carcinomas (P <.05, and P <.01, respectively). In ben
ign ovarian neoplasms, no p53 reactivity was observed and Ki-67 staini
ng was very low, Our results showed that p53 is not a feature of benig
n epithelial ovarian tumors and indicate that increased proliferative
activity of cells seems to involve immunohistochemically detectable al
terations in p53 gene contributing to the evolution of ovarian carcino
ma.