p53 protein expression and its prognostic importance in patients with nodal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

To determine whether the p53 expression might be a predictor for treatment response and overall survival in nodal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), we analyzed the expression of p53 in 69 NHL patients. p53 protein expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry with long-term follow up (1-148 months: median 12.2). p53 expression was noted in 23/69 (33.3%) patients. Complete response (CR) rate to systemic chemotherapy was correlated with stage (I/II) (p=0.038), but not with p53 expression (p=0.2856). Poor overall survival was associated with stage (p=0.0010) or IPI score (p=0.0076), but not with p53 expression (p=0.8601). From stratification analysis by stage, in stage III/IV patients, the p53 positive group had a trend to be associated with poor overall survival than the p53 negative group. Multivariate analysis revealed that p53 positive group was associated with less CR rate compared to the p53 negative group (p=0.046), whereas overall survival was correlated with stage (p=0.0320), not with p53 status. p53 expression was associated with less CR rate in patients with DLBL. Further studies with large numbers of samples and homogenous group of NHL are needed to determine the prognostic value of cell cycle regulator, p53 in NHL.