Homozygous arginine at codon 72 of p53 has no prognostic significance in cervical cancer

Mutation of p53, a tumour suppressor gene, is uncommon in cervical cancer b ut the detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA in cervical cancer is co mmon. The findings of increased susceptibility to degradation of p53 by E6 protein of HPV16/18 in cervical cancer with homozygous arginine at codon 72 (HA72) of p53 led to this study on whether cervical cancers with HA72 were more aggressive with the increase in the rate of loss of p53 function. In 102 cervical cancers, 76.5% were HPV16/18 positive and 30% had HA72. No sur vival difference was detected between HA72 and non-HA72 tumours irrespectiv e of HPV16/18 status. Furthermore, the detection of HPV16/18 in cervical ca ncer was found not to be of prognostic significance in this study. Copyrigh t (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.