Radiochemosensitivity and expression of p53 in patients with esophageal cancer treated by absolute noncurative...

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the expression of p53 protein and radiochemosensitivity in patients with advanced esophageal cancer. We analyzed the expression of p53 protein by an immunohistochemical method in tumors from 28 patients with advanced esophageal cancer who had been treated by absolute noncurative resection. Four patients died from postoperative complications. Fourteen of the remaining 24 patients were treated with postoperative radiochemotherapy. The expression of p53 protein was detected in tumors from 16 of 28 patients (57.1%). The mean survival period was 16.4 months for 14 patients treated with radiochemotherapy, as compared to 6.9 months for 10 patients who were not treated with radiation therapy (P = 0.112). In the case of the 14 patients treated with radiochemotherapy, the mean survival period was 24.7 months for seven patients with p53-negative tumors while it was only 8 months for seven patients with p53-positive tumors. However, difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.149). Postoperative radiochemotherapy prolonged the survival of some patients with noncuratively operated esophageal tumors that were p53-negative. However, the enhanced survival was not statistically significant.