P53 MUTATION IN CARCINOMAS ARISING IN OVARIAN CYSTIC TERATOMAS

Carcinomas arising in mature cystic teratomas of the ovaries from nine women were examined for the presence of p53 mutations. The nine tumor s comprised six squamous cell carcinomas, one squamous eel carcinoma i n situ, one undifferentiated small cell carcinoma, and one mucoepiderm oid carcinoma. Abnormal nuclear accumulation of the p53 protein was ob served in four of the tumors. Genomic DNA was extracted from formalin- fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue blocks and subjected to polymerase cha in reaction (PCR) for specific amplification of the p53 gene exons 5-8 , followed by direct chemiluminescence sequencing analysis. A frameshi ft mutation in exon 8 (codon 278, CCT > del T; stop at codon 344) was detected in one poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. The sam ples were also evaluated for the possible association of 'benign' and 'malignant' types of human papillomavirus (HPV) by PCR using universal primer sets. None of the samples contained detectable HPV genome. The se data suggest that p53 mutations are relatively uncommon in secondar y carcinomas developing in ovarian dermoid cysts, although the number of samples studied was admittedly small.