Survival analysis with p27 expression and apoptosis appears to estimate the prognosis of patients with synovial sarcoma more accurately.

BACKGROUND: Although recent experimental studies have implicated p27 as a regulator of apoptosis in a number of neoplasms, to the authors' knowledge the relation between p27 expression and apoptosis has not yet been established in synovial sarcoma.
METHODS: The relation between p27, apoptosis, and clinicopathologic features were examined in 62 synovial sarcoma cases.
RESULTS: p27 expression was found to be correlated inversely with the extent of apoptosis in synovial sarcomas. On survival analysis, p27 expression was found to be a significant and independent prognostic factor. Although the extent of apoptosis was determined to be prognostically significant, it failed to retain an independent and significant value on multivariate analysis. The combination of p27 expression and apoptosis allowed for the more accurate estimation of prognosis in patients with synovial sarcoma than either parameter alone.
CONCLUSIONS: A combination of p27 expression and extent of apoptosis permitted the more accurate estimation ofy the prognosis of patients with synovial sarcoma.