OBJECTIVE: To investigate the immunoexpression of p53 protein as a risk factor in transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder (TCC). METHODS: We analyzed retrospectively 90 patients with TCC and mean age of 71 years: G1 - 45, G1 - 29, G3 - 16, pTa-1 - 62 and pT2-4 - 28. The superficial TCC were treated TUR plus intravesical BCG (>G1), and the invasives by radical cystectomy and urinary diversion. The mean time of followup was 55 months and 25 patients died of the disease. The rate or reccurence in superficial tumors was 55.5%. The p53 immunoexpression was determined in formalin fixed paraffin embedded tumors sections by the avidin-biotin-immunoperoxidase method (DO - 7, Dako). We considered p53 positive TCC when the labeling nuclear index was >10%. RESULTS: P53 immunoexpression exhibited a positive association with tumor grade and stage (p=0.01), but not with the size of primary lesion (p=0.25) or rate of reccurence of pTa-1 tumors (p=0.81). A strong correlation was seen with metastases (p=0.002) and survival (p=0.003). CONCLUSION: A positive reaction for p53 showed correlation with tumor grade, T stage, metastases rate and parient survival, but had no predictive value for local reccurence rate of superficial tumors.
p53; bladder carcinoma; transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder
