Prevalence of Serum p53 Antibodies against Tumor p53 Protein in Colorectal Cancer

Background: Genetic events associated to colorectal carcinoma are well characterized, but there is scanty information about this issue in Egyptian subjects. The aim of this study was to investigate tissue p53 overexpression in paraffin embedded tumor and serum p53 antibodies in colorectal cancer patients with special reference to patient outcome.Patients and Methods: The study was conducted to 135 consecutive colorectal cancer patients. The tumor p53 protein was overexpressed in 60% and serum p53 antibodies in 35%, also tumor p53 accumulation is not necessarily associated with serum p53 antibodies positive cases. Tumor p53 overexpression was more frequent in distal colorectum than in proximal tumor (63.7% vs 41%) (p > 0.05).Results: Both tumor p53 overexpression and serum p53 antibodies increased signficantly with the stage of the tumor and lymph node involvement, but not with the grade, histopathological types and other histologic parameters. After a follow-up of 5 years, in the Kaplan Meier univariate analysis the factors stage (p = 0.0004), tumor p53 immunostaining (p < 0.0001) and serum p53 antibodies (p < 0.04) had a prognostic value.Conclusion: In conclusion p53 overexpression was associated with advanced histopathological stage and a high risk of recurrence.