p53 protein expression in adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck

Forty-one adenoid cystic carcinomas were investigated retrospectively with the polyclonal antibody CM-1 against the p53 protein and the results compared with clinicopathological parameters and the proliferative activity estimated by Ki-67 expression. p53 acted as a significant explanation variable in simple linear regression with Ki-67 as the dependent variable (r=0.39, p<0.02). High p53 expression was observed in tumors with violated margins during primary surgery. No significant correlations were demonstrated with other clinicopathological parameters or treatment outcome. Alterations in the p53 gene may be responsible for increased proliferative activity in the tumors, but elevated antigen expression has little prognostic value.