Clinicopathological correlations with p53 expression in gastric cancer patients with curative resection

Abstract

Purpose: Mutations in the p53 gene and accumulation of p53 protein are the most common genetic events in gastric carcinomas. This study evaluates the association of p53 gene expression with clinicopathologic findings and prognosis of gastric cancer patients who underwent curative resection. Methods: Retrospective analysis was performed on 236 consecutive patients with gastric cancer who underwent surgery at the Kosin University Gospel Hospital between December 2011 and September 2012. Nuclear p53 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry. Results: p53 expression was detected in 213 patients (90.3%). There was no significant association between positivity for p53 and clinicopathological features. Expression of p53 (P<0.001), tumour, node, metastasis (TNM) stage (P<0.001), T stage (P<0.001), N stage (P<0.001), Lauren classification (P=0.016), neural invasion (P=0.001), lymphatic invasion (P<0.001), vascular invasion (P<0.001), and recurrence (P<0.001) were identified as independent risk factors for overall survival (OS) in univariate analysis. However, on multivariate regression analysis, there was no statistically significant association with OS. Conclusion: In this study, there was no correlation between expression of p53 and clinicopathological features. Although p53 expression was identified as a risk factor for OS in univariate analysis, it had no statistical significance on multivariate regression analysis.

Keywords

• gastric cancer
• p53
• immunohistochemistry
• clinicopathological characteristics
• prognosis