Expression of p53 Protein in Colorectal Cancer and Association With Prognostic Factors in Northeast Iran

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent cancers in the world. The p53 protein is the most commonly mutated protein in human cancer, and it is a frequent abnormality in colorectal cancers. In this study, we evaluated the expression of p53 protein and its association with clinicopathological findings as prognostic factors and mortality rate in 95 colorectal cancer patients’ in Northeast Iran, over a 5 years period (2010-2015). In this retrospective study, the method of immunohistochemistry (IHC) was applied to determine the expression of the p53 protein and pathological features of tumors and mortality rate were examined between 2010 and 2015 at Gorgan City (IRAN). Multiple logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios and confidence intervals between clinicopathological and mortality rate as the outcome variable, adjusted for potential confounders. Immunoreactivity was found in 58.9% of specimens from 95 patients with colorectal cancer, and the mortality rate was estimated 14.7 percent. The mortality rate of patients with colorectal cancer is significant, and findings indicate that it relates to pathologic factors such as vascular involvement [OR=0.02, CI95%: 0.006-0.11], lymph node involvement [OR=0.17, CI95%: 0.05-0.56], round neural invasion, depth of invasion, tumor size and grade. The findings confirmed that the P53 gene mutation could be considered as a prognostic factor affecting mortality in cancer and specifically colorectal cancer. Although the P53 protein expression shows no relationship with histopathological features, the mortality rate of the patients demonstrated a strong association.