The Potential for Serum p53 to Predict the Response to Chemotherapy of Patients with Gastric Cancer

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between serum p53, tissue p53 and tissue permeability glycoprotein (P-gp) levels in gastric cancer. Serum levels of p53 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and tissue p53 and P-gp levels were analysed by immunohistochemistry. In total, 63.0% of gastric cancer tissue samples tested positive for P-gp and 58.7% of samples tested positive for p53. Tissue P-gp immunoreactivity was significantly correlated with tissue p53 immunoreactivity, and both tissue p53 and P-gp immunoreactivity were significantly correlated to the degree of cancer cell differentiation. The percentage of gastric cancer patients with serum positive for p53 was 36.2%, which was significantly higher than the rate in non-cancerous gastric disease patients. Serum p53 was significantly correlated to tissue p53 and tissue P-gp, inferring that the presence of p53 in the serum could indicate the status of tissue p53 and P-gp. This could, therefore, be useful for screening for the most appropriate (lowest toxicity and highest effectiveness) drugs to use ahead of (neo)-adjuvant chemotherapy.