Immunodetection of p53 in differentiated and undifferentiated transitional cell carcinoma of bladder in Isfahan, Iran.
aDepartment of Pathology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran, bDepartment of Surgery, School of Medicine, Azad University, Isfahan, Iran, cDepartment of Public Health and Health policy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Aim: Histological criteria based on common staining is not always sufficient to determine clinical course of an individual patient with bladder cancer. Therefore, in this study the level of p53 as a diagnostic tool was evaluated between differentiated (grades I, II / III) and undifferentiated (grade III/III) transitional cell carcinoma of bladder (TCC). Methods: The increase expression of p53 was detected by immunohistochemical method in the formalin- fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue specimens from 27 patients with differentiated and 27 patients with undifferentiated transitional cell carcinoma of bladder. Results: p53 protein was detectable in 18 (33%) of the total specimens. Sixteen out of 27 (59%) and 2 out of 27 (7%) subjects were positive in undifferentiated TCC and differentiated TCC, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference (P<0.05) between expression of p53 in differentiated and undifferentiated transitional cell carcinoma. Conclusions: These finding suggest that immunodetection of p53 could be valuable to determine a subgroup of less differentiated, more aggressive and chemoradiation resistant bladder cancers.
Paper presented at the International Symposium on Predictive Oncology and Intervention Strategies; Nice, France; February 7 - 10, 2004; in poster session 997 (Chemoprevention).