P53 Gene Mutation And Overexpression In Hypopharyngeal And Cervical Esophageal Carcinoma

Hypopharyngeal and cervical esophageal carcinoma accounts for about 1% of head and neck cancers, and 0.06% of all malignancies. There is a high percentage of regional lymph-node metastasis, and the prognosis is very poor. The 5-year survival is less than 20% for surgery alone or radiotherapy. With the development of multidisciplinary approach, the 5-year survival has been much improved (about 40%). A reasonable and dependable marker would be essential to predict the prognosis for the hypopharygeal and cervical esophageal carcinoma. Mutation of p53, the most common genetic change, is very important in the carcinogenesis and related to the prognosis of many human cancers. This study was designed to determine the incidence and characteristic of the mutation of p53 in hypopharyngeal and cervical esophageal, and to explore the possible association between the mutation of p53 and clinicopatholgic feature, especially the postoperative prognosis. Overexpression of p53 protein in 61% (60/98) of cases was detected by immunohistochemical methods. Direct evidence for p53 mutations was obtained by sequencing p53 cDNA from 10 hypopharyngeal and cervical esophagus specimens. Mutation was...