Expression of P53 Protein in Premalignancies and Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Oral Cavity

Introduction: Expression of p53 gene is one of the common findings in premalignancies and malignancies of the oral cavity. The aim of the study was to know whether P53 protein is overexpressed in histological sections of oral submucous fibrosis, oral leukoplakia and oral squamous cell carcinoma. The aim of the present study was to determine the overexpression of P53 protein in histological sections of oral submucous fibrosis, oral leukoplakia and oral squamous cell carcinoma. Materials and methods: Eighty-five histopathologically diagnosed, formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded tissue samples were divided into study group and control group. The study group was further subdivided into three groups: Group 1 consisted of 25 samples of oral submucous fibrosis; group 2 consisted of 25 samples of oral leukoplakia and group 3 consisted of 25 samples of oral squamous cell carcinoma. The control group consisted of 10 normal oral mucous membrane tissue samples. The samples were subjected to immunohistochemistry using indirect immunoenzyme Labelled StreptAvidin Biotin (LSAB) method. The results were analyzed statistically by Chi-square (χ2) test of significance. Results: 8/25 samples of group 1, 5/25 samples of group 2, 8/25 samples of group 3 and none of the samples of the control group were positive for P53 protein. P53 staining was seen mostly in the basal layer of the samples of group 1 while in the samples of groups 2 and 3 the staining was more diffuse. Conclusion: Among P53 may be considered a tumor marker as a definite number of samples were positive for P53.