p53 autoantibodies in the sera, cyst and ascitic fluids of patients with ovarian cancer.

The presence of p53 autoantibodies and p53 protein overexpression in ovarian carcinoma patients were determined and compared. p53 antibodies were detected in sera samples, cyst and/or ascitic fluids of individual patients by two separate techniques (ELISA assay and immunoblot). p53 protein accumulation was assessed immunohistochemically in tissue sections and corresponding tumor effusion cells. The relations between p53 overexpression, the presence of p53 autoantibodies and histology of tumors, grade of differentiation and clinical stage of the disease were considered. p53 expression was found in 20 of 46 (43.5%) ovarian carcinomas and significant relationship between p53 reactivity in tumor tissue and effusion cells in individual patients was evident. In the subset of carcinomas with detectable p53 accumulation only two cases (one serous, one endometrioid) were associated with the presence of p53 autoantibodies (10%). Among 26 p53- negative carcinomas also two cases (7.6%) were seropositive. The strong correlation between the presence of p53 autoantibodies in the sera and respective cyst or ascitic fluids were revealed with no exception of this coincidence. There was no association between the detection of antibodies against p53 and FIGO stage and tumor grade. Our results clearly indicate that p53 overexpression is not sufficient to elicit p53 humoral response in ovarian carcinoma patients. The presence of p53 autoantibodies in this type of cancer is not a frequent event and their importance as independent prognostic factor seems to be very limited.