Clinical and Histopathological Correlation of p16 and p53 Expression in Oral Cancer

p16 is overexpressed in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients who are positive for human papilloma virus. The p53 tumor suppressor gene is commonly mutated in human cancer. The aim is to correlate clinical and pathological features with p16 and p53 expression. This is a prospective, observational study of 50 consecutive cases (43 males and 7 females) who underwent surgery for oral cancer. p16 and p53 were determined by immunohistological staining. The results were obtained and analyzed using chi-square test (Statistical Software SPSS 21.0 version); p value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Of the 50 cases, p16 and p53 were overexpressed in 30% and 54% of patients, respectively. Overexpression of p16 was not significantly associated with age, subsites of oral cavity, or degree of differentiation. However, smokeless tobacco was significantly associated with p16 expression (p = 0.012). Similarly, overexpression of p53 was not correlated with age, subsites of oral cavity, or degree of differentiation. Seventy-five percent of poorly differentiated cancers had overexpression of p53 though this did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.279). p53 was overexpressed in smokers (80.95%) and those consuming alcohol (60%).