Premium
p53 in cutaneous melanoma: Immunoreactivity and correlation with prognosis
Author(s) -
Lee C Soon,
Pirdas Anne,
Lee Michael WK
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
australasian journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.67
H-Index - 53
eISSN - 1440-0960
pISSN - 0004-8380
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-0960.1995.tb00971.x
Subject(s) - immunostaining , medicine , pathology , immunohistochemistry , p53 protein , melanoma , spitz nevus , p53 expression , pathogenesis , significant difference , monoclonal antibody , nevus , antibody , cancer research , immunology
SUMMARY p53 protein immunoreactivity was investigated in cutaneous Spitz naevi ( n = 7), superficial spreading ( n = 21) and nodular ( n = 6) melanomas using the monoclonal antibody DO‐7. Nuclear immunostaining for p53 protein was observed in 41% of all the melanomas but not in any of the Spitz naevi studied. This difference in p53 immunoreactivity appeared statistically significant ( P = 0.0001; χ 2 test). There were also differences in p53 immunoreactivity between superficial spreading and nodular melanomas ( P = 0.001, χ 2 test), where up to 38% of superficial spreading melanomas and 50% of nodular melanomas had demonstrated p53 nuclear immunostaining. An apparently significant correlation was observed between melanomas with poor prognostic histological indices and p53 immunoreactivity ( P = 0.0016; χ 2 test). In conclusion, increased p53 protein immunoreactivity is found in melanomas and is associated with poorer prognosis. The differences in p53 immunohistological expression between cutaneous melanomas and Spitz naevi suggest that alterations of the protein may be important in the pathogenesis of the tumour.