Detection of Serum p53 Protein in Patients with Cervical Carcinoma

Oh, H K; Park, C W; Jung, J S; Sohn, J H; Kim, S Y; Moon, H S; Kim, S C; Son, Y S; Kim, J I; Yoo, H K

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
We attempted to obtain the serum levels of p53 protein in patients with cervical carcinoma in contrast to those of the control group. Immunohistochemical staining for p53 protein in cancer tissue in patients who were found positive in serum p53 protein was performed, and we analyzed the relationship between the serum levels of p53 protein and the prognostic factors of cervical carcinoma.
METHODS
In this study, thirty patients with cervical carcinoma and forty-three control group with benign gynecologic disease were included. Serum levels of p53 protein were obtained using an ELISA.
RESULTS
Average level of serum p53 protein in cervical carcinoma patients (0.4056+/-0.2238 ng/ml) was higher than in control group (0.3786+/-0.2119 ng/ml), but the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Three of the cases of cervical carcinoma (10.0%) were found positive in serum levels of p53 protein (>2SD above the mean of control group). And the tumors from these cases demonstrated positive staining for p53 protein by immunohistochemistry. There was no significant correlations between the serum levels of p53 protein and prognostic factors of cervical carcinoma except for parametrial invasion.
CONCLUSION
These results suggest that serum p53 protein can be detected only in a small portion of cervical carcinoma patients, so the serum levels of p53 protein should not be encouraged to be used for screening test and follow-up of cervical carcinoma.