P53 PROTEIN EXPRESSION IN GASTROINTESTINAL LYMPHOMAS

We investigated the p53 protein expression in gastrointestinal lymphom as (GIL). Paraffin-embedded samples of 52 patients were examined for t his purpose. The avidin-biotin Complex method was used for immunostain ing. Nine of the 52 samples (17.3%) showed p53 staining. There was no relationship between the p53 protein expression and clinical character istics, such as stage, disease localization and tumor burden. Complete remission was higher in patients not expressing this protein, and the p53 protein was more frequently expressed in intermediate and high gr ade histopathology than low grade lymphomas? but there was no statisti cally significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.008). Inter estingly, patients expressing the p53 protein were younger than the on es not expressing it (30.7 +/- 14.1 vs. 43.6 +/- 15.7 years). We concl ude that the p53 protein expression in GILs may be a poor prognostic i ndicator due to a lower response rate to chemotherapy.