p53 Immunohistochemistry Expression in Epithelial Ovarian Tumors

Introduction Epithelial ovarian carcinoma usually has TP53 expression. The TP53 gene is the most frequently mutated gene in ovarian cancer and therapies targeting these mutations may improve treatment outcomes, but there are only few studies on p53 immunohistochemistry expression in ovarian tumors in India, leading to this study. Objective To study the expression of p53 mutation in epithelial ovarian carcinoma and to find its association with histological type, grade, and TNM staging. Methodology This is a laboratory-based explorative study. Expression of p53 was examined in 62 cases of epithelial ovarian carcinoma. Key parameters, including age, site of distribution, histological variant, tumor grade, and TNM stage, were analyzed for correlations with p53 expression using the chi-square test. Results Out of 62 cases studied, serous cystadenocarcinoma was the largest group, with 53 cases (85.5%), followed by mucinous cystadenocarcinoma with five cases (8%) and sero-mucinous cystadenocarcinoma with four cases (6.4%). 77.4% of serous cystadenocarcinoma cases (41/53) and all four cases of sero-mucinous cystadenocarcinoma (100%) showed 5+ staining, while none of the mucinous cystadenocarcinoma cases exhibited 5+ expression. p53 expression significantly correlated with histological variant of tumor (p = 0.003). No association was found between the expression of p53 with TNM staging and tumor grade. Conclusion High p53 expression was seen in 72.5% (45 out of 62) of ovarian carcinoma cases. High p53 expression is strongly associated with serous cystadenocarcinoma and sero-mucinous cystadenocarcinoma as compared to mucinous cystadenocarcinoma.