Rupa Das1 , Chandraprava Mishra2 , Narayan Chandra Mallik3
BACKGROUND Amongst all the malignancies that can develop in our body, Head & Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) is one which has a very high incidence with approximately 6,00,000 new cases diagnosed annually having a mortality rate of fifty percent.1 Over expression of p53 is considered to be a marker that is associated with poor prognosis & hence a predictor of outcome of the disease.2 The aim of the study therefore was to evaluate the over expression of p53 in HNSCC with its association to survival & various clinico pathological features. METHODS This study is a prospective study at PRM Medical College & Hospital, Baripada, Odisha. Cases diagnosed to be HNSCC in routine histopathology were taken up for the study using the paraffin blocks for IHC to study the expression of p53 and correlate with the histologic grade & outcome of the disease. RESULTS The study included 50 cases of HNSCC in which p53 over expression was seen in 64% of the cases with a higher expression in cancers of buccal mucosa. There was a significant difference in relation to histologic grade of the disease. Majority of the cases diagnosed belonged to Grade I & II and p53 expression was noted in 32/50 cases (64%), 63.3% of Grade I tumour expressed p53, whereas 73.68% cases of Grade-II tumours expressed the same. There was no significant gender bias. CONCLUSIONS p53 can be used as a prognostic indicator to comment upon eventual aggressiveness and overall survival.
