p53 mutations have no additional prognostic value over stage in bladder cancer

• Published in: British journal of cancer 1994-09, Vol.70 (3), p.496-500
• Main Authors: VET, J. A. M, BRINGUIER, P. P, PODDIGHE, P. J, KARTHAUS, H. F. M, DEBRUYNE, F. M. J, SCHALKEN, J. A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alleles; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - genetics; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - pathology; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell - genetics; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell - pathology; DNA, Single-Stranded - analysis; Gene Deletion; Genes, p53; Humans; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Neoplasm Staging; Nephrology. Urinary tract diseases; Nucleic Acid Conformation; Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Polymorphism, Genetic; Predictive Value of Tests; Prognosis; Tumors of the urinary system; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms - genetics; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms - pathology; Urinary tract. Prostate gland
• ISSN: 0007-0920; 1532-1827
• DOI: 10.1038/bjc.1994.334

Evidence is accumulating that the tumour-suppressor gene p53 is involved in the development of bladder cancer. Therefore we studied p53 mutations in 47 bladder cancers obtained from 45 patients using polymerase chain reaction-single-strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) analysis. Eight out of 24 invasive tumours appeared to have a p53 mutation, while no p53 mutations were found in the superficial tumours. All the p53 mutations were found in grade 3 tumours. The tumours with altered p53 showed a higher frequency of allelic loss (FAL) than the tumours without a mutation (55.8% vs 21.1%, P < 0.05, chi 2 test). This increase in FAL suggests a correlation between p53 mutations and genetic instability. A significant correlation between mutated p53 and poor survival in the whole group studied was found (P < 0.001, log-rank test). However, within the group of muscle-invasive tumours the occurrence of p53 mutations had no additional prognostic value. Therefore, even though p53 mutations were found in aggressive tumours, the clinical usefulness of its detection seems limited. Nevertheless, these results imply that p53 is involved in the clinical behaviour of bladder cancer; its role in the progression of superficial cancer to invasive disease merits further attention.