Prognostic significance of p53 in the cancer of the larynx

lp53 is a nuclear phosphoprotein acting as . transcription factor to regula te cell cycle progression and apoptosis, mediated by a number of target gen es, p53 mutant proteins have lost a) the ability to act as sequence-specifi c transcription factors and b) their tumour suppressive properties. As p53 is the most commonly mutated gene in human cancer including laryngeal squam ous cell carcinoma, an aggressive and most frequent tumour of head and neck , it has attracted a great deal of interest as a prognostic factor diagnost ic tool and therapeutic tar-get. This article reviews the current understan ding of the prognostic significance of p53 in laryngeal squamous cell carci noma. Immunohistochemical staining techniques and molecular generics demons trated thar p53 activation is an early event in laryngeal squamous cell car cinogenesis but can not be used as a reliable prognostic marker.