Expression of p21(WAF1/Cip1) the p53-dependent pathway is related to prognosis in patients with advanced esophageal carcinoma

The proteins p53 and p21 are important components that regulate G(1)-S tran sition through the cell cycle. We immunohistochemically investigated p53 an d p21 expression in 111 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. W e also evaluated whether the expression of either of these proteins is a pr ognostic factor according to the p53-dependent and -independent pathways, T he positive rates of p53 and p21 expression were 42.8 and 43.2%, respective ly, Clinicopathological findings according to p53 and p21 expression did no t differ significantly. The 5-year-survival rates between p21 positive and negative expression did not differ significantly in the p53-positive group. In the p53-negative group, the 5-year-survival rate of patients with p21-p ositive expression was 22.9%, which was significantly better than that of p atients with p21-negative expression (12.7%; P < 0.05). Multivariate analys is revealed that p21 expression in the p53-dependent pathway was an indepen dent prognostic factor, Accordingly, the prognostic values of p21 expressio n between the p53-dependent and -independent pathways differed. Examination of p21-positive expression in the p53-dependent pathway will help to estim ate the favorable prognosis of patients with advanced esophageal carcinoma.