Usefulness of immunohistochemical staining for p53 in the prognosis of breast carcinomas: correlations with established prognosis parameters and with the proliferation marker, MIB-1.

Mutations of the p53 gene often result in the overexpression of p53 protein. Previous studies have suggested that the function of p53 and its mutant protein forms may be linked with the disease course of patients with a breast carcinoma. In the present study, we tested 462 primary breast carcinomas for the presence of p53 antigen using immunohistochemical methods employing antibodies against the clone, DO-1. These tumors were also immunohistochemically stained using the monoclonal antibody, MIB-1, in order to demonstrate the presence of Ki67. Comparison of the presence of p53 with other prognostic parameters revealed highly significant negative correlations with estrogen- and progesterone-r…