Immunohistochemical study of p53 expression as proliferative index in neoplasia of the uterine cervix

Introduction: Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in India. In women, it is the second most common after breast carcinoma. Human cancers arise from a protracted sequence of multiple genetic and epigenetic alterations which involve the growth regulatory genes like p53. Aim: This study aimed at correlation of immunopositivity of p53 with the histopathological type and grade of carcinoma cervix. Materials and Methods: A total of 100 cases of cervical biopsy/ hysterectomy specimens of carcinoma cervix received at the Department of Pathology, SMSMC Jaipur from January 2016 to September 2017 were examined for gross and microscopic features. Immunohistochemistry was used to study the p53 expression as proliferative index in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, invasive squamous cell carcinoma as well as adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix. Results: The demographic profile of SCC and CIN in this study was in concordance with that described by epidemiological studies in India with larger group of patients presenting with advanced stage tumors. Increased expression of p53 was found in increasing grades of CIN and SCC. The p53 positivity showed a statistically significant association with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) histologic type (P = 0.005). Conclusion: The expression of p53 is greater in the malignant cervical neoplasms than pre-malignant cervical lesions, suggesting that p53 overexpression can be used as an early diagnostic tool and also as a prognostic indicator.