Abstract
The relationship between apoptosis and p53 protein expression in squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus was investigated immunohistochemically in 47 biopsy specimens from 24 patients. Sixteen of the specimens were well differentiated, 11 were moderately differentiated, and 20 were poorly differentiated. The TUNEL method was used for detecting apoptosis. TUNEL-positive condensed nuclei showing characteristic morphological features were considered to indicate apoptosis. p53 protein expression was studied immunohistochemically. One thousand tumor cells were evaluated in each specimen. The incidence of apoptosis was less than 1% except in one specimen. More than 50% of the tumor cells were p53-positive in 33 specimens, while less than 10% of the tumor cells were positive in 14 specimens. There was no significant difference in the incidence of apoptosis or in the mean percentage of p53-positive cells between the 3 histological subtypes. There was also no significant correlation between the incidence of apoptosis and the extent of p53 protein expression.
