The relation of immunohistochemical p53 and p63 expression with histopathological parameters in laryngeal carcinomas

Şirin BAŞPINAR; Özden ÇANDIR; Nilgün KAPUCUOĞLU; Sema BİRCAN; Metin ÇİRİŞ; Nermin KARAHAN

The aim of this study is to investigate whether there is a correlation between overexpression of p53 and p63 and the histopathological features of laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas (LSCC) and to reveal any possible prognostic value. For these purposes, 43 paraffin sections of laryngeal carcinomas were studied using immunohistochemical staining for p53 and p63. We detected p53 expression in 97.7% of the cases. Overexpression of p53 was significantly associated with histologic grade (p=0.001) and vascular invasion (p=0.028) but, there was no any statistically significant correlation with the other histopathological parameters. In our study 100% of laryngeal carcinomas showed positive p63 immunostaining. We did not detect any statistically significant association between expression of p63 protein and histopathological parameters. As the tumors with an aggressive phenotype showed more intense p53 expression, we suggest that p53 expression in LSCC can predict poor prognosis. However, according to the staining pattern of p63, its expression may reflect the immaturity of the tumor of the cell lineage. We speculate that p63 expression may give an idea about the differentiation of LSCC rather than its prognosis.