p53 protein expression in epithelial ovarian cancer and it is association with clinicopathological features as seen in selected histopathology laboratories in Kampala

Abstract

Background: Globally, cancer of the ovary is the 7th most frequently diagnosed among women. The majority of the women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are diagnosed at a late stage that is untreatable leading to high levels of mortality. Epithelial ovarian cancer represents that vast majority of ovarian cancer worldwide. Altered expression of p53 proteins have been linked to mutation in the p53 gene and increases a woman’s risk of developing ovarian cancer. The altered expression of p53 have prognostic implications. Objectives: To determine the expression of p53 protein in epithelial ovarian cancer and associated clinicopathologic features as seen in selected laboratories in Kampala. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional laboratory study was conducted at Makerere University's College of Health Sciences' Pathology department. Using records of paraffin embedded tissue blocks of patients histologically diagnosed with ovarian cancer at Department of Pathology, Makerere University, Mulago National Referral Hospital, Department of Pathology; Uganda Cancer Institute and Multisystem Clinical Laboratory. Tissue blocks and clinicopathologic information were obtained from the archives and records. Serial sections were cut from tissues and stained with H&E for histological confirmation followed by immunohistochemistry using a mouse derived monoclonal antibody p53. Data was entered and analysed using SPSS and presented in form of tables, graph, and pi-charts. Results: Data of 104 formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue blocks histologically diagnosed with EOC were analyzed. The mean age of patients were 49 (SD±13) years. The majority of the patients 93 (89.4%) had serous ovarian carcinoma histological type. Well differentiated EOC constituted majority of the samples (33.7. %) followed by poorly differentiated (31.7%) and moderately differentiated histological grade (26.9). The prevalence of p53 protein expression was 68.3% (71/104). There was no association between p53 expression and the age, histology type and histology grade of epithelial ovarian cancer. Conclusion: The present study showed that 68.3% of the specimens were positive for p53 expression in epithelial ovarian cancer as seen in selected histopathology laboratories in kampala.p53 expression was not significantly associated with age, histological subtype or tumour grade.