Correlation between the status of the p53 gene and survival in patients with stage I non-small cell lung carcinoma

The association of p53 abnormalities with the prognosis of patients,vith no n-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) has been extensively investigated to da te, however, this association is still controversial, Therefore, we investi gated the prognostic significance of p53 mutations through exons 2 to 11 an d p53 protein expression in 103 cases of stage I NSCLC, p53 mutations were detected in 49 of 103 (48%) tumors, Two separate mutations were detected in four tumors giving a total of 53 unique mutations in 49 tumors. Ten (19%) of mutations occurred outside exons 5-8, Positive immunohistochemical stain ing of p53 protein was detected in 41 of 103 (40%) tumors. The concordance rate between mutations and protein overexpression,vas only 69%, p53 mutatio ns, but not expression, were significantly associated with a shortened surv ival of patients (P < 0.001), Furthermore, we investigated the correlation between the types of p53 mutations and prognosis. p53 missense mutations ra ther than null mutations were associated with poor prognosis (P < 0.001 in missense mutations and P = 0.243 in null mutations), These results indicate d that p53 mutations, in particular missense mutations, rather than p53 exp ression could be a useful molecular marker for the prognosis of patients wi th surgically resected stage I NSCLC.