p53 status is neither a predictive nor a prognostic variable in patients with advanced ovarian cancer treated with a paclitaxel-based regimen

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between p5 3 status and the clinical outcome of patients with advanced ovarian cancer treated with a paclitaxel-based regimen. Patients and Methods: The investig ation was conducted on 38 patients with FIGO stage III-IV ovarian cancer fr om whom tumor tissue samples for p53 protein immunostaining were obtained d uring initial cytoreductive surgery. All these patients subsequently receiv ed six cycles of first-line combination chemotherapy with paclitaxel 175 mg /m(2) (3-hour infusion) plus carboplatin AUC 6 with or without epidoxorubic in 75 mg/m(2). Results: Positive p53 immunostaining was detected in tissue samples collected from 24 (63.2%) ovarian cancers. A clinical complete resp onse was obtained in 14 (58.3%) of the 24 patients with positive p53 immuno staining compared to 9 (64.3%) of the 14 patients with negative p53 immunos taining (p = 0.717). A pathological complete response was found in 6 (25.0% ) of the former compared to 4 (28.6%) of the latter (p = 0.956). Similarly, survival did not correlate with p53 status (p = 0.1271). Discussion: p53 s tatus seems to be neither a predictive nor a prognostic variable in patient s with advanced ovarian cancer treated with a paclitaxel-based regimen. The se results are consistent with experimental data showing that paclitaxel cy totoxicity in ovarian cancer is likely to be mediated by a p53-independent pathway.