[An early carcinoma of the gallbladder with atypical epithelium ( a report of a case with elevated p53 expression)].

The p53 tumor suppressor gene is believed to play an important role in the progression of malignant tumors through mutation and overexpression. The p53 protein and Ki-67 immmunochemistry were performed on an early gallbladder carcinoma with atypical epithelium. Overexpression of the protein was found in adenocarcinoma area with diffusely distributed positive cells (p53 index: 76 +/- 24%) and in atypical epithelial areas with foci of diffusely distributed positive cells (p53 Index: 30 +/- 14%), while the Ki-67 index was 6 +/- 4% in the adenocarcinoma areas and 6 +/- 2% in the atypical epithelial areas in each p53 measured corresponding areas. This suggest that p53 protein overexpression occurs in early carcinoma and/or atypical epithelium at least in some cases and that it is an early event in the development of gallbladder adenocarcinomas and also that the atypical epithelium may belong to carcinoma.