Preoperative serum antibodies against the p53 protein in patients with ovarian and endometrial cancer

Anticancer Res. 1996 Nov-Dec;16(6B):3519-23.

Abstract

Antibodies against the p53 protein were measured with a sandwich-type enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in blood samples preoperatively collected from 30 patients with ovarian cancer and 30 patients with endometrial cancer. Anti-p53 antibodies were detected in 33.3% of patients with ovarian cancer, comprising 22.2% of the 9 patients with stage I-II disease, 30.8% of the 13 patients with stage III disease, and 50.0% of the 8 patients with stage IV disease. Anti-p53 antibodies were found in none of the 4 patients with well differentiated tumors and in 38.5% of the 26 patients with moderately or poorly differentiated tumors. Among the 21 patients with stage III-IV disease, a complete clinical response to front-line platinum-based chemotherapy was obtained by 46.2% of the 13 patients without anti-p53 antibodies and 25.0% of the 8 patients with anti-p53 antibodies. Antibodies against the p53 protein were detected in only 6.7% of patients with endometrial cancer. The low incidence of anti-p53 antibodies in patients with endometrial cancer seems to suggest that the serum assay of these autoantibodies has a limited clinical relevance in the management of this malignancy. On the other hand in patients with ovarian cancer the incidence of serum anti-p53 antibodies is relatively high, and, moreover, it seems to increase with tumor stage and grade and seems to be associated with a lower response rate to chemotherapy. However, the small number of patients did not allow us to obtain statistically significant differences.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Antibodies, Neoplasm / analysis
  • Antibodies, Neoplasm / blood*
  • Antineoplastic Agents / therapeutic use
  • Carboplatin / therapeutic use
  • Cisplatin / therapeutic use
  • Endometrial Neoplasms / blood
  • Endometrial Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Endometrial Neoplasms / immunology*
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / methods
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / blood
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / immunology*
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / immunology*

Substances

  • Antibodies, Neoplasm
  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Tumor Suppressor Protein p53
  • Carboplatin
  • Cisplatin