P53 protein expression in eccrine poroma and porocarcinoma

The role of p53 mutation has been shown in different human malignancies, including various skin cancers. In this study, we examined p53 protein expression in 25 eccrine poromas and 11 porocarcinomas by immunohistochemistry. P53 expression was observed in 88% (22 of 25) of eccrine poromas and 73% (8 of 11) of porocarcinomas. In eccrine poromas, percentage of cells reactive for p53 was less than 5% (low expresser) in 6 cases, 5 to 50% (moderate expresser) in 14 and greater than 50% (high expresser) in 2 cases. In terms of intensity, 13 cases showed weak staining, 8 moderate, and 1 case showed strong reactivity. On the other hand, 2 cases of porocarcinoma were low expresser, 2 were moderate and 4 were high expresser. All of the high expressers had also strong staining. This study has demonstrated that eccrine poromas showed significant p53 expression as much as porocarcinomas and, therefore, p53 positivity cannot be accepted as a valuable parameter for malignancy. P53 gene may involve in the carcinogenetic pathway of porocarcinoma but it is likely that other oncogenes may also have a role.