Micrometastatic p53-positive cells in the lymph nodes of early stage epithelial ovarian cancer: prognostic significance.

We used immunohistochemical staining of p53 protein to detect micrometastasis in regional lymph nodes that were judged tumor-free by conventional histopathological methods in 58 patients with stage I or II (pT1 or 2, N0) epithelial ovarian cancer. Overexpression of p53 protein in the primary lesions of ovarian cancer was observed in 31 patients (53%), and p53 protein-positive cells were detected in the regional lymph nodes (micrometastasis-positive) in 19 of 31 patients with p53 protein overexpression (61%). In patients with micrometastasis, the prognosis was significantly poorer than that in those without micrometastasis (p < 0.05). Detection of micrometastasis of the regional lymph nodes of ovarian cancer by immunohistochemical staining of p53 protein may be useful in predicting the prognosis of patients with stage I or II epithelial ovarian cancer.