PROGNOSTIC-SIGNIFICANCE OF TP53 ACCUMULATION IN HUMAN PRIMARY BREAST-CANCER - COMPARISON BETWEEN A RAPID QUANTITATIVE IMMUNOASSAY AND SSCP ANALYSIS

TP53 accumulation in human primary breast carcinomas was studied by a quantitative luminometric immunoassay (LIA), and TP53 gene alterations , exons 5-8, were examined by single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis. In 48 of 142 breast tumor samples, a TP53 gene altera tion was identified. In tumor samples without a TP53 gene alteration, the median cytosolic TP53 protein level, as determined by LIA, was 0.4 ng/mg protein (range 0-70.8 ng/mg protein), whereas the median TP53 p rotein level for tumor samples with a TP53 gene alteration was 10 time s higher, i.e., 4.1 ng/mg protein (range 0.1-176.0 ng/mg protein). Des pite a significant correlation between the outcome of LIA and SSCP, a disagreement was found in 22% of cases analyzed. Significant correlati ons were found between TP53 protein accumulation and low estrogen rece ptor content, and with a shorter relapse-free as well as overall survi val, with a median duration of follow-up of 100 months. Due to its rap id and easy performance on routinely prepared cytosols, the LIA for TP 53 protein may be useful in evaluating the prognostic impact of TP53 p rotein accumulation in human primary breast cancer. (C) 1996 Wiley-Lis s, Inc.