Immunohistochemical Expression of p53 Protein, in Relation to the Histological Type and Grade in Invasive Breast Carcinomas

Background: Breast cancer remains the commonest cause of cancer-related deaths in women. This study aims to determine the proportion of p53 expression in breast cancer cases in OAUTHC Ile-Ife and relate this to histological grades and types.

Methods: Eighty-five histologically diagnosed breast cancer cases seen within a 2-year (2018-2019) period were retrieved. The tumours were graded using Nottingham grading system and the histological types were stated. Immunohistochemistry for p53 was performed on retrieved representative tissue blocks and its level of expression was scored as positive or negative. The association of p53 expression and the histological types and grades were sorted using the chi-square statistical test to compare variables and p-value < 0.05.

Results: The Invasive Ductal Carcinoma-Not Otherwise Specified (IDC-NOS) was the commonest histological type (92.9%). The histological grades 2 and 3 predominated accounting for 48.2% each. Of all the breast carcinoma cases analysed, grades 2 and 3 constituted 93.1%. The median age of 50.6 years was observed in p53 positive and 49.4 years in p53 negative. Even though most high-grade tumours were p53 positive, no significant association between p53 positivity and histological grades or histological types.

Conclusion: Conclusion: Many of our cases show expression of p53 and high grade tumours bare a high level of p53 expression. This finding though not statistically significant may suggest aggressive behaviour of tumours.