Expression of the cell cycle inhibitor p27(KIP1) is a new prognostic marker associated with survival in epithelial ovarian tumors

This ease-control study was designed to identify factors associated with lo ng-term survival, We examined two groups of patients with epithelial ovaria n cancer, one group of long-term survivors (>5 years) and one group of shor t-term survivors (< 2 years), for levels of expression of p53 and p27(KIP1) proteins (as both Proteins have been shown to be independent prognostic ma rkers in tumors other than ovary) and the relationship with patient surviva l. Our findings show that p27(KIP1) expression, in contrast to p53 expressi on, is positively associated with long-term survival in univariate analysis (P = 0.001), in analyses stratified by residual disease (P = 0.02) or perf ormance status (P = 0.02), the tno strongest prognostic factors for ovarian cancer, as well as multivariate analysis (P = 0.002) adjusting simultaneou sly for age, tumor stage, residual disease, performance status, and grade o f differentiation. Therefore, immunostaining for levels of p27(KIP1) expres sion may have potential as a new prognostic factor in the management of ova rian cancer.