[The correlation between expression of oncogene protein products p53, p21, p185 and cell differentiation and prognosis in rhabdomyosarcoma].

OBJECTIVE

To study the correlation between expression of oncogene protein products p53, P21, p185 and histological type, cell differentiation and prognosis in rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS).

METHODS

41 RMS cases which had follow-up material were selected for this study. Expression of protein products of oncogene p53, p21 and p185 were synchronously detected and compared by immunohistochemical ABC method.

RESULTS

The positive rates for p53, p21 ras and P185 c-erbB-2 were 72%, 68% and 60% respectively. Positive expression did not relate to age, sex or RMS histological type, but related to the degree of RMS differentiation. The positive rate of p53 ad p21 ras in well differentiated cases were 42.9% and 28.6% while that of the poorly differentiated group was 85% and 80% respectively (P < 0.05). The psoitive rate of p53 in the RMS group with metastasis was 86.6%, significantly higher than that of the non-metastasized group, which was 66.7% (P < 0.05). There was a significant difference between those with one year survival, whose p52 positive rate was 86.7% and those who survived for more than 3 years, whose p53 positive rate was 47.1% (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that the irregular expressions of p53 and p21 were related to tumor differentiation and the degree of malignancy. p53 positivity may indicate a poor prognosis.