Prognostic value of p53 expression in stage IB1 cervical carcinoma

The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the patterns of p53 expression in stage IB1 squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix, to compare p53 expression with clinicopathological findings, and to assess its prognostic value. 27 patients with stage IB1 squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix underwent abdominal radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection. Expression of p53 was studied immunohistochemically. Overexpression of p53 was detected in 33.3% of the tumors, low expression was seen in 11.1%, and negative expression was found in 55.6%. Deep cervical stromal invasion (> or = 1/2) was found to be associated with the increased risk of lymph node metastases (odds ratio = 17.5). A significantly lower percentage of patients survived when p53 overexpression was observed (p = 0.0315). Univariate analysis revealed that tumor size (2-3.9 cm), lymph node metastasis, tumor invasion into parametria, tumor invasion into blood/lymph vessels, squamous cell carcinoma antigen (> or = 2 ng/ml), and p53 overexpression had a significantly lower recurrence-free survival rate. None of these above factors obtained significance in the multivariate analysis. This study suggests that expression of p53 may be indicative of an unfavorable prognosis in patients with stage IB1 squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix.