p53 mutations are rare events in recurrent cervical cancer

Mutations of the p53 gene have been shown to be associated with aggressive growth behavior and increased recurrence rates for certain tumors. Primary cervical cancers contain oncogenic human papillomaviruses (HPV) in more tha n 90% of cases and usually possess wild-type p53 alleles. Cervical cancer c ells contain detectable levels of functional p53 protein despite of the exp ression of the HPV E6 protein, which can induce p53 degradation. Thus, inac tivation of p53 by somatic mutation should have functional consequences in HPV-positive cancers. We investigated whether p53 mutations play a role in the recurrence of the disease by analyzing p53 status in 18 biopsy specimen s from recurrent cervical cancers. Only one of these (5.6%) contained a p53 mutation, as assessed by a sensitive yeast functional assay that detects m utations of the p53 mRNA between codons 52 and 364. These results indicate that p53 mutations are rare events in recurrent cervical carcinomas, and th at somatic mutations of p53 do not provide cervical cancer cells with a sel ective growth advantage for recurrence.