P53 PROTEIN OVEREXPRESSION IN INFILTRATING DUCTAL CARCINOMA OF FEMALEBREAST AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH LYMPH-NODE METASTASIS

Traditionally, prognosis in carcinoma of the breast is evaluated based on size and differentiation of the tumor and status of lymph node met astasis. In addition to these established markers, in this molecular a ge other parameters such as overexpression of p53, c-erbB-2 and c-myc proteins are increasingly used to assess the prognosis. At present, th e prognostic value of the molecular markers, at best, is controversial and conflicting. In this study, we examined 67 infiltrating ductal. c arcinomas of female breast with and without lymph node metastasis for p53 protein overexpression by immunohistochemistry on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections to ascertain if p53 positive tumors have greater metastatic potential than p53 negative tumors. In additio n, p53 overexpression was also correlated with tumor size, grade, expr ession of estrogen and progesterone receptors, and age of the patient to clarify the issue of relevance of p53 overexpression in prognostica tion, p53 overexpression was observed in 39% of tumors and showed stro ng correlation only with the histological grade of the tumor. The inci dence of p53 overexpression in grade 1, grade 2 and grade 3 tumors was 0%, 33% and 58% respectively. Lymph node metastasis was less frequent in tumors that overexpressed p53 protein. Twenty-seven percent of pri mary tumors with lymph node metastasis showed p53 protein overexpressi on, in contrast to 44% of tumors without metastasis. No correlation wa s observed between p53 overexpression and all the other parameters eva luated except progesterone receptor negative status. These results sug gest that p53 overexpression is not an independent prognostic indicato r and should not be used to predict lymph node metastasis or aggressiv e behavior of the tumor.