Prognosis for Survival of Young Women with Breast Cancer by Quantitative p53 Immunohistochemistry

Abstract

p53 protein detected immunohistochemically has not been accepted as a biomarker for breast cancer patients because of disparate reports of the relationship between the amount of p53 protein detected and patient survival. The purpose of this study was to determine experimental conditions and methods of data analysis for which p53 stain intensity could be prognostic for survival of young breast cancer patients. A tissue microarray of specimens from 93 patients was stained with anti-p53 antibody, and stain intensity measured with a computer-aided image analysis system. A cut-point at one standard deviation below the mean of the distribution of p53 stain intensity separated patients into two groups with significantly different survival. These results were confirmed by Quantitative Nuclear Grade determined by DNA-specific Feulgen staining. P53 provided information beyond ER and PR status. Therefore, under the conditions reported here, p53 protein can be an effective prognostic factor for young breast cancer patients.

Evaluation of p53 in breast cancer and its correlation with various histological prognostic factors

“…Recent studies have suggested that p53 status might have a different predictive value for the efficacy of anthracycline/alkylating agent based chemotherapy regimen between triple negative & non triple negative breast cancers. 12 In the present study age of the patients ranged from 25 to 76 years and maximum number of cases were between 30-39 years (32.7%) followed by 40-49 years (26.9%). The mean age of presentation was 45.31 ± 10.81years.…”

Advances in Intraoperative Flow Cytometry

“…In invasive breast cancer, the prognosis is directly related to patient age, histological grade and subtype, tumor size, lymph node status, and mitotic index [ 42 ]. In addition to previous features, the status of hormonal receptors including estrogen and progesterone, c-erbB-2 oncogene expression, expression of Ki-67, and other predictors of disease progression have been included as prognostic factors [ 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ].…”