BACKGROUND:p53-mutations are of major importance in the development of human malignancies and occur frequently in head and neck cancer. The detection of serum p53-antibodies has been performed for a number of different cancers. For head and neck cancer though, the occurrence of serum p53-antibodies has not been determined so far.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:A set of 82 sera from patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck were screened for circulating antibodies against p53 with ELISA.
RESULTS:Of 82 patients 22% (n = 18) demonstrated p53-antibodies in their sera; the specificity for malignancy was 100%.
CONCLUSIONS:As far as we know, this is the first study to reveal p53-antibodies in the sera of patients with SCCHN. The high incidence of positivity for p53-antibodies in this subset of cancer patients may give additional help in the diagnosis of this often disfiguring disease.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:A set of 82 sera from patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck were screened for circulating antibodies against p53 with ELISA.
RESULTS:Of 82 patients 22% (n = 18) demonstrated p53-antibodies in their sera; the specificity for malignancy was 100%.
CONCLUSIONS:As far as we know, this is the first study to reveal p53-antibodies in the sera of patients with SCCHN. The high incidence of positivity for p53-antibodies in this subset of cancer patients may give additional help in the diagnosis of this often disfiguring disease.
