DETECTION OF SERUM ANTI P53 ANTIBODIES AND THEIR CORRELATION WITH P53MUTATIONS IN MYELODYSPLASTIC SYNDROMES AND ACUTE MYELOID-LEUKEMIA

In solid tumors, p53 antibodies are found in 30% of the patients with p53 mutations, and their analysis is an interesting method for the det ection of p53 mutations. We looked for circulating p53 antibodies in 8 3 patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or acute myeloid leukem ia (AML), by an ELISA technique. Detection of p53 mutations was made b y single stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis of exons 4 to 10 of the P53 gene and confirmed by direct sequencing. Circulating antibodies to p53 were seen in three of the 83 (3.5%) patients analyz ed, and a p53 point mutation was found in ten cases. Two of the three patients with p53 antibodies had a p53 mutation, but the remaining cas e had no detectable mutation. The other eight mutated cases had no det ectable p53 antibodies. Our findings show that serological analysis of p53 antibodies is rarely positive in MDS and AML. This could be due t o the relatively low incidence of p53 mutations seen in those disorder s, but also to the immune depression to which they are often associate d.