Expression of the cell cycle regulators p53, p21(WAF1/CIP1) and p16(INK4a) in human endometrial adenocarcinoma.

To study correlation links between expression level of proteins p53, p21(WAF1/CIP), p16(INK4) and proliferative potential in human endometrial adenocarcinoma (EC).The immunohistochemical analysis of expression level of Ki-67, p53, p21(WAF1/CIP) and p16(INK4) was carried out on surgically resected endometrial cancer samples (n = 74). Scrapes of normal endometrium from 10 patients with polyps of cervical canal of the uterus served as the control.The data showed that endometrial malignant tumors possess high proliferative activity (proliferation index was 37.3 +/- 0.2%), overexpression of p53 (labeling index (LI) = 46.1 +/- 0.5%) and high expression of p21(WAF1/CIP) (LI = 11.2 +/- 0.4%) and p16(INK4) (LI = 12.0 +/- 0.2%). In low differentiated endometrial adenocarcinomas the highest level of Ki-67, p53 and p21(WAF1/CIP) expression and lowest content of p16(INK4) protein were observed.The indicated markers may be used along with traditional morphological and clinical characteristics for diagnosis of endometrial neoplasia.