Immunohistochemical expression of P53 protein in cutaneous basal cell carcinoma: A clinicopathological study of 66 cases

Abstract

Vladimír Bartoš, Milada Kullová

Objective: Nuclear expression of p53 protein is associated with a biological behavior in a variety of human malignancies. In cutaneous basal cell carcinoma (BCC), however, many studies have provided conflicting results in this regard. We aimed to determine whether there is relationship between p53 expression and different histologic subtypes of BCC, and whether it may indicate tumor aggressiveness. Materials and Methods: Biopsy samples from 66 cutaneous BCCs from 57 patients were collected. P53 expression was demonstrated by immunohistochemical staining using the anti-p53 antibody. Among them, 52 cases were also evaluated for Ki-67 antigen. Results: Immunoreactivity of p53 protein varied in the range of 0 to 100% of total tumor tissue (mean value 46.0%). The expression exceeding 5% of cancer tissue (positive staining) was found in 54 BCCs (81.8%). Within this group, there were 25 cases (37.9%) with low and 29 cases (43.9%) with high expression. In superficial, superficial-nodular, nodular, nodular-infiltrative and infiltrative BCCs, p53 protein positivity was found in 100% (8/8), 80% (8/10), 70.4% (19/27), 88.2% (15/17) and 100% (4/4), respectively. We did not reveal a significant correlation between the extent of p53 protein expression and BCC subtypes except for nodular BCC, in which a number of negative cases (8/27, 29.6%) were just above the threshold of statistical significance (P = 0.04). After merging cancers into non-aggressive and aggressive growth phenotype, no association with expression of p53 protein was found. There was no relationship between p53 protein expression and topographical sites after they have been gathered into sun-exposed and sun-protected locations. We did not observe any association between expression of p53 protein and Ki-67 antigen. Conclusion: In cutaneous BCC, the expression of p53 protein does not seem to reflect a biological behavior and tumor aggressiveness. Therefore, in a routine dermatopathological practice, immunohistochemical assessment of p53 protein may not serve as a reliable prognosticator of this malignancy.