[Study on p53 protein expression, cell proliferation and apoptosis in benign and malignant brain tumors]
1Department of Neuropathology, Neurological Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital.
Objective:
To explore the effect of p53 protein expression in brain tumors on the cell proliferation and apoptosis, and the relationship between above parameters and histological classification and malignant degree of these tumors.
Methods:
The p53 protein expression, cell proliferation and apoptosis of 10 control brain tissues (CBT) and 80 brain tumor samples were studied by in situ cell death detection and immunohistochemistry.
Results:
Sixty-nine of the brain tumors (86.3%) expressed p53 protein. The amount of tumor cells positively stained for p53 protein increased with the degree of malignancy. All the CBTs did not express p53 protein. The densities of cells positive for proliferating cell nuclear antigen and Ki-67 antigen staining in tumor groups were higher than that in CBT group and were elevated with the malignant degree and the level of p53 protein expression of the tumors. On the contrary, the density of apoptotic cell in tumor groups was lower than that in CBT group, reducing in accord with the increase of malignancy and the level of p53 protein expression of the tumors.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that above 4 parameters have a referential value for the evaluation of biological behavior of brain tumors. It is clear from the present study that the abnormality of expression and function of p53 protein correlates with the imbalance between cell proliferation and apoptosis. This may be one of the important factors in the development and progression of primary and metastatic brain tumors.
