Infrequent expression of protein p53 in epidermotropic variants of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

Although diverse types of lymphomas have been examined for immunohistochemical detection of p53 protein, little information is available with regard to p53 protein expression in CTCL. We analyzed cutaneous biopsy specimens of 22 patients with the diagnoses of mycosis fungoides or Sézary syndrome with polyclonal rabbit anti-p53 antiserum CM-1. Staining of neoplastic cells was observed only in two patients with advanced disease. Overexpression of p53 protein does not seem to be a major feature of either mycosis fungoides or Sézary syndrome.