Bcl-2 is closely correlated with favorable prognostic factors and inversely associated with p53 protein accumulation in endometrial carcinomas: immunohistochemical and polymerase chain reaction/loss of heterozygosity findings.

To clarify the relation between bcl-2 protein (Bcl-2) expression and p53 alteration during progression of endometrial carcinomas (endometrioid type), 92 consecutive hysterectomy specimens were examined by immunohistochemistry. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) for the p53 gene was also examined using the polymerase chain reaction(PCR)-LOH assay. Moderate to strong Bcl-2 immunointensity in more than 30% of cells was found in 32 (34.8%) of 92 carcinomas, with a clear link to favorable clinicopathological features, such as a high differentiation grade (P = 0.0084), an early stage (P = 0.0432) and limited invasion into the myometrium (P = 0.0084). In contrast, positive results for p53 immunohistochemistry (more than 30% positive cells) or PCR-LOH analysis were revealed in 16 (17.4%) of 92 and 18 (22.5%) of 80 tumors respectively. Although there was no apparent association between the nuclear p53 staining and the presence of LOH, the lack of correlation being observed in 23 (28.7%) of the tumors, both alterations were significantly linked with several unfavorable prognostic factors. In addition, an inverse correlation was observed between Bcl-2 expression and p53 protein accumulation (P = 0.0084). These data suggest that, in endometrial carcinomas, Bcl-2 and p53 alterations may play important roles in determining whether tumor progression from early to advanced stages will occur.