Racial disparity in overexpression of the p53 tumor suppressor gene in stage I endometrial cancer.

OBJECTIVE

This study was conducted to determine whether overexpression of the p53 tumor suppressor gene is associated with poor outcome in early-stage endometrial cancers and whether a racial difference in the frequency of p53 overexpression contributes to the observed racial disparity in survival rates.

STUDY DESIGN

Immunostaining for the p53 gene was performed in 164 women with stage I endometrial adenocarcinomas.

RESULTS

Overexpression of mutant p53 protein was seen in 28 out of 164 (17%) cases and was associated with a poor histologic grade (p = 0.003) and a nonendometrioid histologic appearance (p = 0.06). Overexpression also was three times more frequent in blacks (15 out of 44, 34%) than in whites (13 out of 117, 11%) (p = 0.003). Recurrent disease developed in 15 out of 164 (9%) cases and was more than twice as frequent in cases when the p53 gene was overexpressed (5 out of 28, 18%) than in cases with normal expression (10 out of 136, 7%). Recurrent disease was seen in 6 out of 44 (14%) blacks compared to 9 out of 117 (8%) whites.

CONCLUSIONS

These data support the hypothesis that differences in the frequency of alteration of the p53 tumor suppressor gene contribute to the racial disparity in endometrial cancer survival.