A comparative study of p53 expression in premalignant and malignant cervical lesions at a tertiary care institute of Rohilkhand region, India

Abstract

Background: Cervical cancer ranks as the 2nd most common cancer among Indian women between 15 and 44 years of age. The secondary biomarker p53 has been studied at various centers in the world and has been found to be deregulated in cervical cancers. Objective: This study was undertaken to observe the expression and association of p53 and grades of p53 in premalignant and malignant cervical lesions and also with their histopathological subtypes. Materials and Methods: The present prospective study was conducted, from January 2016 to December 2016. Patients with premalignant and malignant cervical lesions of epithelial origin were included, while those with other pathological entities were excluded. A total of 53 patients were finally enroled for this study. Cases with p53 expression in more than 5% cells were considered positive for p53 overexpression. Results: The mean of p53 expression was higher in malignant lesions (13.29 ± 16.00) when compared to premalignant lesions (1.12 ± 2.23) and the result was statistically significant (P = 0.019). No statistically significant association (P = 0.875) was found between types of premalignant lesions and p53 overexpression as well as types of malignant lesions and p53 expression. Conclusion: In the present study, much higher percentage of p53 overexpression is observed in malignant than premalignant lesions, the difference being statistically significant (P = 0.009). Mean p53 expression in the malignant lesions is also higher than premalignant lesions. p53 expression is therefore a suggested marker for differentiating malignant from premalignant lesions.