The p53 gene is one of the most extensively investigated tumor suppressor genes.
Several neoplasms have been thoroughly investigated for altered p53 gene expression, including lung, breast, and colorectal cancers, but the studies of neuroglial tumors are rare.
Immunohistochemically, we demonstrated p53 protein expression in 40 cases of 156 central nervous system tumors, which were collected from Jan. 1989 to June 1993 at the department of anatomical pathology, Chungnam National University hospital.
@ES The results are as follows ;
@EN 1. The incidence of gliomas(25.6%) was the highest in brain tumors, followed by meningomas(16.7%), pituitary adenomas(15.4%), neurilemomas(14.1%) and metastatic tumors(9.6%).
2. The incidence of gliomas in males was slightly higher than in females(M : F=1.1 : 1). Gliomas were distributed among all age groups, and the mean age was 35.3 years.
3. The positivity of p53 protein expression was the highest in glioblastoma multiforme(75.0%), followed by anaplastic astrocytoma(66.7%), low grade astrocytoma(30.0%), oligodendroglioma(20.0%), and ependymoma(16.1%).
4. The p53 index(No. of p53 protein positive cells/No. of total cells) were 68.7% in the glioblastoma multiforme in the original tumor, while 91.8 in the recurrent glioblastoma multiforme.
The results suggest that there is some correlation between the degree of the histopathologic differentiation in neurogical tumors and the p53 protein expression. In addition, the p53 protein detection may provide a clue in the identification of
malignant progression in neuroglial tumors.
Key Words : p53 protein expression, Neuroglial originated tumors, CNS
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