IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL DETECTION OF P53 AND C-ERBB-2 IN ESOPHAGEAL-CARCINOMA - NO CORRELATION WITH PROGNOSIS

TNM staging of oesophageal cancer provides significant prognostic info rmation but its clinical impact is limited as many patients present wi th advanced disease (i.e. T3N1). Additional prognostic markers may hel p separate those with 'good' and 'bad' prognosis tumours and so help w ith decisions such as selection for adjuvant therapy. p53 and c-erbB-2 overexpression may correlate with poor prognosis in oesophageal cance r, but this is uncertain. This study aimed to investigate the value of these biomarkers as prognostic indicators in resected oesophageal can cer. Two hundred and five oesophageal tumours (127 adenocarcinoma, 78 squamous) resected by a single surgeon between June 1979 and January 1 991 were investigated for p53 and c-erbB-2 overexpression using DO-7 a nd CB-11 immunohistochemistry. Patient survival was analysed by Kaplan -Meir life tables. Median survival was 61 weeks (range: 5-747) and sur vival diminished significantly with increasing UICC stage (P<0.0001). Sixty-eight per cent of squamous tumours and 66% of adenocarcinomas ov erexpressed p53 but there was no statistically significant correlation with prognosis. Twenty-six per cent of squamous tumours and 23% of ad enocarcinomas overexpressed c-erbB-2, but again this did not correlate with survival. p53 and c-erbB-2 are commonly overexpressed in oesopha geal cancer but do not appear to be related to prognosis in this large series of resected oesophageal canters and other candidate biomarkers must be sought.