OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to investigate the significance of p53 expression for the prognosis in patients with ovarian granulosa cell tumors (GCT). METHODS: The records of 30 patients operated on for GCT at Tampere University Hospital, Finland, were reviewed. The mean age at the time of the diagnosis was 55 years. Twenty-one of the tumors were of FIGO stage I, three were of stage II, three were of stage III, and three were of stage IV. Paraffin-embedded tumor specimens were analyzed by immunohistochemistry for expression of mutated p53 protein and by flow cytometry. RESULTS: Eleven tumors were positive for p53 and 19 were negative. The median crude survival of p53-negative patients was 10 times that of p53-positive ones (210 months vs 21 months, P = 0.037, log-rank test). The association between p53 immunoreactivity and stage was statistically significant (P = 0.026 Pearson chi2 test), while there was no association between p53 expression and DNA ploidy or S-phase fraction. CONCLUSION: Although the results should be considered as preliminary, expression of mutated p53 in ovarian granulosa cell tumors seems to be associated with unfavorable prognosis. Copyright 1997 Academic Press.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to investigate the significance of p53 expression for the prognosis in patients with ovarian granulosa cell tumors (GCT). METHODS: The records of 30 patients operated on for GCT at Tampere University Hospital, Finland, were reviewed. The mean age at the time of the diagnosis was 55 years. Twenty-one of the tumors were of FIGO stage I, three were of stage II, three were of stage III, and three were of stage IV. Paraffin-embedded tumor specimens were analyzed by immunohistochemistry for expression of mutated p53 protein and by flow cytometry. RESULTS: Eleven tumors were positive for p53 and 19 were negative. The median crude survival of p53-negative patients was 10 times that of p53-positive ones (210 months vs 21 months, P = 0.037, log-rank test). The association between p53 immunoreactivity and stage was statistically significant (P = 0.026 Pearson chi2 test), while there was no association between p53 expression and DNA ploidy or S-phase fraction. CONCLUSION: Although the results should be considered as preliminary, expression of mutated p53 in ovarian granulosa cell tumors seems to be associated with unfavorable prognosis. Copyright 1997 Academic Press.