Prognostic significance of p53 histochemistry and DNA histogram parametersin head and neck malignancies

Background: The aim of the study was to determine the role of quantitative pathological parameters in prognosis of head and neck malignancies. Materia ls and Methods: 51 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients were exam ined for mutant p53 gene expression (45 out of 51 patients) by immunohistoc hemistry and for cellular DNA-content (44 out of 51 patients) using digital picture analyzer. Statistical analysis was performed using BMDP package. R esults: No correlation with prognosis was found for age, sex, localization, T-classification and therapy Then was significant relationship between N-s tatus and overall survival (p=0.0008). No correlation was found with overal l and disease-free survival for either histologic type or grading. P53: No significant correlation was detected with overall survival. A relationship was found between mutant p53 and metastasis-free time (p=0.06). Ploidy: The re wen no significant differences between aneuploid and euploid tumors for either disease-free or overall survival. Synthetic (S) -phase fraction: A c orrelation was found for both survival rates (p=0.029) and metastasis-free time (p=0.05). Polyploid fraction (PF): correlation was shown for both over all survival (p=0.0128) and metastasis-free time (p=0.0038). Conclusion: Th ere is correlation between p53 overexpression and metastatic potential and there is a significant relationship between SPF and PF value and prognosis (metastasis-free and overall survival) of head and neck cancer.