Allelic Loss at TP53 Is Not Related to p53 Protein Overexpression in Primary Human Endometrial Carcinomas

We examined loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at the TP53 gene in primary human endometrial carcinomas (EC), and investigated the relationship between allelic loss, p53 protein overexpression, pRb-1 pathway alterations and MIB-1 proliferative activity. Applying the non-isotopic PCR-RFLP/VNTR-silver staining techniques, we investigated TP53 LOH in 46 tumors at four polymorphic loci. Out of 42 informative carcinomas, LOH was found in 19% of the cases studied. In general, there was no significant relationship between LOH and the clinical and pathological variables of cancer, including patient age, clinical stage, histological grade or depth of myometrial invasion. Interestingly, none of 7 tumors associated with hyperplasia revealed allelic imbalance, whereas 8 of 27 (30%) tumors without hyperplasia exhibited LOH (p = 0.312; Fisher’s exact test). Overexpression of nuclear p53 was not correlated with allelic loss at TP53 (p = 0.336, Fisher’s exact test). It is worth pointing out that p53 immunoreactivity was significantly related to proliferative activity of cancer (R = 0.42, p = 0.0037; Spearman’s rank correlation test). A tendency towards a poorer outcome was reported in EC patients displaying TP53 LOH during short-time follow-up (p = 0.093; log-rank test). None of the tumors simultaneously showed LOH at TP53 and RB1 genes(R = –0.211, p = 0.16; Spearman’s rank correlation test). p16INK4A alterations (LOH and gene deletion) occurred concomitantly, with 3 tumors showing the TP53 allelic loss, whereas the cyclin D1/cdk4 complex was overexpressed in a case with TP53 LOH. Altogether, losses at TP53 were not associated with p53 nuclear overexpression, but may affect a subset of EC patients characterized by an unfavorable prognosis at short-time follow-up. Allelic loss at TP53 seems to arise independently of LOH at the RB1 gene in carcinomas of the uterine corpus in humans. Disruptions at p16INK4A and/or cdk4/cyclin D1 concomitantly occurring with TP53 LOH may participate in the development of a subset of endometrioid-type ECs.