EXPRESSION OF THE P53 GENE AND PRESENCE OF SERUM AUTOANTIBODIES IN OVARIAN-CANCER - CORRELATION WITH DIFFERENTIATION

A study was carried out to assess the prognostic significance of abnor malities of p53 expression in ovarian tumors. Archival material from 1 05 ovarian cancer biopsies was examined for the presence of the p53 pr otein by an immunoperoxidase technique using the cell-mediated immune (CMI) antibody. Employing a 3-point scale for intensity and the propor tion of malignant cells positive, 26% of cases had a score of 4 to 6, 19% were 1 to 3, and 55% were negative. There was no correlation with response to therapy or survival at a median follow-up of 6 years, but a higher score was found no correlate with poor tumor differentiation (Spearman rank: p = 0.03). In a more recent series of 38 ovarian cance r patients, serum autoantibodies to the p53 protein were detected in 2 9% of cases by an ELISA technique compared with 1 out of 73 normal con trol women. In 19 of these cases, both serum and malignant tissues wer e negative, while in 7 of the 11 cases with positive sera, the tissue was also found to contain detectable p53 protein. We conclude that tis sue expression of p53 in ovarian tumors is associated with poor histol ogical differentiation and the presence of detectable serum autoantibo dies.