Is the p53 gene mutation of prognostic value in hepatocellular carcinoma after resection?

Abstract

Hypothesis: Mutant p53 gene has lost its tumor suppression function and is considered to be a very important step in hepatocellular carcinoma development. We propose that the mutant p53 gene plays a role in its invasiveness and prognosis after resection. Design: A case-controlled study. Setting: A referral center. Patients: Seventy-nine consecutive patients who underwent surgical resection for hepatocellular carcinoma entered this study. Intervention: Tissue sections of resected hepatocellular carcinoma (deparaffinized and rehydrated from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded sections) were incubated with antihuman p53 monoclonal antibody and immunostained. The p53 result was scored without prior knowledge of the patients' status. A 10% immunopositivity was regarded as the threshold value. Main Outcome Measure: The immunopositive rate of p53 was 69.6% (55 of 79 patients). The clinical variables (age, sex, associated liver cirrhosis, hepatitis B virus infection, hepatitis C virus infection, serum α-feto-protein, and Child-Pugh class); the histological variables (size, capsule, vascular permeation; grade of differentiation, and multinodularity); and postoperative course (recurrence, tumor-free interval, death, and survival period) were correlated with p53 immunopositivity. Results: From univariate analysis, more patients with p53 positivity were male (92.7 vs 0%) (P