Determination of Both TP53 Mutation Status and the Amount of p53 Protein has Limited Diagnostic Importance for Patients with Ovarian Cancer

Background: Ovarian cancer is one of the most aggressive types of gynecologic cancers. Many patients have a relapse within two years after diagnosis and subsequent therapy. Among different genetic changes generally believed to be important for the development of cancer, TP53 is the most common mutation in the case of ovarian tumors. Objective: Our work aims to analyze the outcomes of different comparisons based on the overall survival of ovarian cancer patients, the determination of TP53 status and the amount of p53 protein in tumor tissues. Methods: We analyzed and compared a collective of 436 ovarian patients' data. The extracted data include TP53 mutation status, p53 protein level and information on the overall survival. Values for p53 protein level in dependence of the TP53 mutation status were compared using the Independent Samples t-Test. Survival analyses were displayed by Kaplan-Meier plots, using the log-rank test to check for statistical significance. Results: We have not found any statistically significant correlations between the determination of TP53 status or the amount of p53 protein in tumor tissues and the overall survival of ovarian cancer patients. Conclusion: In ovarian tumors the determination of both the TP53 status as well as the p53 protein amount has only limited diagnostic importance.