[A study on expressions of P53 protein and proliferating cell nuclear antigen in malignant eyelid tumors]

To observe the relationship between P53 gene mutation and malignant eyelid tumor.

The expressions of P53 protein and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in 102 cases with malignant eyelid tumors were examined by labelled streptravidin biotin (LSAB) immunohistochemical technique.

Although overexpression of P53 protein was not detected in normal eyelid cutaneous epithelium, meibomian gland and mild epithelial dysplasia, the positive rate of P53 increased in degree in moderate and severe dysplasia, carcinoma in situ and invasive tumors, and PCNA labeling index (PI) progressively increased too. Overexpression of P53 protein was detected in 30/53 cases of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), 16/32 cases of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 10/17 cases of meibomian gland carcinoma, and the intensity of P53 protein immunostaining increased with the lowering in the degree of histological differentiation. The mean PCNA labeling index was 38.1 +/- 31.1, 38.3 +/- 30.1, 42.6 +/- 32.0 respectively in BCC, SCC and meibomian gland carcinoma. The PI value in tumor tissue with positive P53 protein expression was higher than that in tissues with its negative expression (P < 0.05).

The gene mutation of P53 protein might play an important role in the pathogenesis of malignant eyelid tumors, it may be one of the factors that can lead to abnormal hyperactivity of cell proliferation and it possibly can be a malignant sign in the progression of a tumor.