Detection of preoperative serum anti-p53 antibodies in gastric cancer

Abstract

The presence of circulating anti-p53 antibodies (p53Ab) was investigated in 81 gastric cancer patients by ELISA. Preoperatively, anti-p53Ab were revealed in 13 cases (16%), including 3 early gastric cancers. No significant correlation of p53Ab with patient age, sex, pathological parameters and tumor markers, such as CEA and CA19-9 was observed, although p53Ab positivity tended to be associated with a higher rate of lymph node metastases (p = 0.073). We have found no significant correlation between p53Ab and poor survival rate (p = 0.325). In conclusion, we have observed that p53Ab are detectable in gastric cancer patients, even at early stages of disease, however, p53Ab have not served as a predictor of poor prognosis in gastric cancer in this series.