C. Stoll et al., THE INFLUENCE OF P53 AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS ON THE OUTCOME OF PATIENTS WITH ORAL SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMA, Virchows Archiv, 433(5), 1998, pp. 427-433
In several tumour entities the immunohistochemical detection of p53 ha
s proved to be a predictive factor for the survival of the patients. I
n this study the effector waf1 and the regulator mdm2 responsible for
the inactivation of p53 were also determined in 156 tissue samples of
primary squamous cell carcinomas in the oral cavity and oropharynx, th
eir lymph node metastases, and the epithelium outside the invasively g
rowing tumour from 107 patients. In this latter epithelium there was a
significant correlation between grade of dysplasia and staining for p
53 (P<0.01). In the dysplastic epithelium a significant correlation be
tween p53, waf1, and mdm2 was shown (P<0.05). Differences in the immun
ohistochemical staining between different blocks of the tumour tissue
and also between primary tumours and their lymph node metastases were
revealed in 11-44% of cases, but there was no correlation with other v
ariables, such as formation of lymph node metastases. In contrast to t
he conventional tumour grading and staging, no influence of any of the
variables determined on survival or recurrence-free survival could be
detected. It seems that p53 and associated factors are important in t
he early stages of cancerogenesis but not in further tumour progressio
n and metastatic spread.