ANALYSIS OF THE PROGNOSTIC SIGNIFICANCE OF P53 IN COLORECTAL CARCINOMAS

Abstract

Colorectal carcinoma, which is rather a common cancer, constitutes a significant proportion of the global burden of cancer morbidity and mortality. Tumour extent, lymph node status, tumour grade and the assessment of lymphatic and venous invasion are still the most important morphological prognostic factors. P53 is one of the most frequently mutated genes in human cancers & mutation of p53 is a late event in colorectal carcinogenesis. In our study we have evaluated p53 expression in 50 cases of colorectal adenocarcinomas and found a statistically significant (P value = 0.027) correlation between p53 over expression & advanced stage of the tumour but not the grade of the tumour. Mucinous carcinomas had a lower level of expression of p53. Hence p53 can be used as a prognostic marker in conventional adenocarcinomas and it may help to assess the responsiveness of the patients to standard chemotherapy regime.