(American Journal of Pathology. 1999;155:717-721.)
© 1999 American Society for Investigative Pathology
Study of p53 in Elderly Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndromes by Immunohistochemistry and DNA Analysis
Masayuki Kikukawa*,
Naoto Aoki
,
Yoshimitu Sakamoto
and
Mayumi Mori*
From the Department of Hematology,*
Tokyo Metropolitan
Geriatric Hospital, and the Department of
Toxicology,
Division of Pathology, Tokyo
Metropolitan Research Laboratory of Public Health, Tokyo, Japan
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Abstract
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We analyzed the tumor suppressor gene product,
p53, in elderly patients with myelodysplastic
syndromes (MDS) and in overt leukemia patients after transformation
from MDS using immunohistochemical techniques. We examined 52 MDS
patients (mean age 79 years, range 68 to 96) from the time of
initial diagnosis to death or development of overt leukemia. p53
protein was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 8/52 patients
(15%) at initial diagnosis: 1/26 with refractory anemia (RA),
0/4 with RA with ringed sideroblasts, 3/11 with RA with an
excess of blasts (RAEB), 3/8 with RAEB in
transformation, and 1/3 with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia.
We also analyzed gene mutations in patients with positive IHC.
p53 mutations were detected in 3/8 (38%) patients.
IHC-positive patients had a significantly higher incidence of leukemic
transformation and the presence of a complex karyotype with monosomy
17. IHC-positive cells included blasts as well as mature myeloid
cells, erythroblasts, and megakaryocytes. Scrutiny of
our data in combination with previous data revealed that patients with
positive IHC in multilineage cells were older than those in whom
positivity was noted mostly in myeloblasts. This suggests that p53 IHC
positivity with a multilineage pattern may be a characteristic of MDS
in older patients.
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Introduction
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The myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of
hematopoietic disorders predominantly affecting the elderly and often
progressing to overt leukemia. Once designated as preleukemia, MDS have
been studied as a model for multistep carcinogenesis. Although recent
research has revealed oncogene mutations, such as RAS
and FMS, in MDS,1,2
the roles of tumor
suppressor genes have been largely unclear.
p53 is a tumor suppressor gene
located on the short arm of chromosome 17,3
and
p53 mutations have been found among many kinds of
malignancies.4
Normal p53 protein is a multifunctional
protein that participates in cell cycle regulation, apoptosis, cell
immortality, and cancer cell response to chemotherapeutic
agents.5-7
Mutations of p53 have been found in MDS
patients, but not as frequently as in other malignancies, and it has
been speculated that they play important roles in the progression of
the disease, development of overt leukemia, and therapeutic
responsiveness.8-21
In the present study, we examined p53 in elderly patients
with MDS and leukemia arising from MDS in order to clarify its clinical
significance and the molecular mechanism of the evolution of this
disease. We analyzed p53 protein by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and
p53 gene mutations using single-strand conformation
polymorphism of polymerase chain reaction (SSCP-PCR) products. The
wild-type p53 protein has a short half-life and usually cannot be
detected by IHC. However, mutated p53 typically has a prolonged
half-life and is detectable in tissue sections of bone marrow or in
peripheral blood.21,22
IHC of blood or bone marrow slides
is a sensitive method for early detection of p53 mutations,
especially in heterogeneous cell populations, such as in
MDS.23
We report the characteristics of p53 IHC and the
clinical significance of p53 expression in elderly MDS patients.
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Materials and Methods
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We analyzed 72 samples obtained from 52 patients diagnosed with
MDS from 1986 to 1995, including 26 patients with refractory anemia
(RA), 4 with RA with ringed sideroblasts (RARS), 11 with RA with excess
of blasts (RAEB), 8 with RAEB in transformation (RAEB-t), and 3 with
chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML). Average age was 79 ± 7
(mean ± SE) years (range, 6896). Fourteen of the 52 patients
transformed to overt leukemia within 28 to 2543 days (530 ± 186
days).
This study used bone marrow obtained by aspiration at the time of
initial diagnosis. Bone marrow tissues were fixed in 10% neutral
formalin, embedded in paraffin, and sectioned at a thickness of 4 µm.
Sections were immunostained as previously reported25
with
microwave oven pretreatment using the peroxidase LSAB kit (DAKO,
Glostrup, Denmark) and visualized with diaminobenzidine. The primary
antibody was anti-human p53 mouse monoclonal antibody (clone DO-7,
DAKO) which recognizes both the wild-type and mutated p53 protein.
Endogenous peroxidase was quenched using hydrogen peroxide.
Counterstaining was performed using hematoxylin. Cells with nuclei
stained brown were judged to be positive. The percentage of positive
cells was determined among all nucleated cells. Negative controls were
immunostained with normal mouse IgG antibodies.
In patients with positive IHC, p53 gene mutations were
examined using an SSCP-PCR method and direct DNA sequencing. DNA was
extracted from bone marrow samples at the initial diagnosis. DNA
extraction and SSCP-PCR were performed as previously
described.25
Exons 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the p53
gene were screened for point mutations. PCR products with abnormal
SSCP-PCR profiles were subjected to direct DNA sequencing.
Survival duration and other statistical examinations were calculated
according to the Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank test,
2
test, Fisher's exact method, and the Mann-Whitney U test. Values of
P < 0.05 were considered significant.
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Results
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Positive nuclear staining for human p53 was detected in
8/52 (15%) patients: RA 1/26 (4%), RARS 0/4 (0%), RAEB 3/11 (27%),
RAEB-t 3/8 (38%), and CMML 1/3 (33%) at initial diagnosis (Table 1)
. One of 30 patients with early stage
MDS (RA and RARS) and 6 of 19 patients with late stage MDS (RAEB and
RAEB-t) were positive for a significantly higher incidence in the late
stage (P = 0.01). The percentage of p53-positive
cells was 4 to 55%. Positively stained cells included blasts with a
high nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio, mature myeloid cells (including myeloid
cells with pseudo-Pelger anomaly), erythroblasts, and megakaryocytes.
We found three patterns of positive IHC. Positive blasts were observed
among other, mostly negative cells, and comprised pattern A. Positive
staining in mature myeloid cells and erythroblasts, including
myeloblasts, comprised pattern B. The addition of positive
megakaryocytes to pattern B constituted pattern C. Cases 1 and 2 were
classified as pattern A, cases 3 and 4 as pattern B, and cases 5 to 8
as pattern C. Although the patients with pattern B or C (73 to 95
years, 81 ± 8 years, n = 6) were rather older
than those with pattern A (69 and 71 years, n = 2), the
difference was not statistically significant, with a marginal
P value (P = 0.0528). The
immunostaining results of cases 1 (pattern A) and 6 (pattern C) are
shown, respectively, in Figure 1, A and C
. Myeloid cells with pseudo-Pelger anomaly, erythroblasts, and
megakaryocytes were positive in case 6 (Figure 1, C and E)
. Case 1
transformed to leukemia after 7 years and case 6 transformed to
leukemia after 4 years. In case 1, positive blasts increased with
progression to leukemia (4% at the RA phase, 25% at RAEB-t, and 40%
at leukemia) (Figure 1B)
. In case 6, positive cells increased from 34%
to 93% with progression to leukemia (Figure 1E)
. Monocytic blasts also
were stained in case 6 (Figure 1E)
.

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Figure 1. p53 protein
(brown) stained using
peroxidase method. A: Case 1
(RA); arrowheads
indicate positive myeloblasts. B: Case 1
(leukemic phase);
positive myeloblasts increased. C: Case 6
(CMML); arrow
indicates positive megakaryocyte. Arrowheads indicate positive
myeloid cells with pseudo-Pelger anomaly. D: Case 6
(negative control).
E: Case 6 (leukemic
phase); positive blasts markedly increased.
Arrow indicates positive erythroblasts. Arrowheads
indicate positive myeloblast and monocytic blast. Original
magnification, x400.
|
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Of note among the staining patterns is that the two pattern A patients
had a complex karyotype, including monosomy 17, gene mutations, and
resistance to chemotherapy, that was observed in only one out of six
patients with patterns B and C.
As for IHC positivity in patients with leukemic transformation, 5 of 14
(36%) patients who transformed to leukemia were judged positive at
initial diagnosis. Five of 8 (63%) patients with positive IHC
transformed to leukemia, compared with only 9 of 44 (20%) with
negative stain, which represented a significantly higher incidence in
the positive group (P = 0.0254). The presence of
a complex karyotype with monosomy 17 was recognized in 3 of 7 (43%)
karyotyped IHC-positive patients (one IHC-positive patient, case 4, was
not karyotyped) compared with none of 21 patients with negative IHC, a
rate significantly higher in the positive group
(P = 0.0107). Among the 6 IHC-positive patients
who received chemotherapy, 3 (50%) achieved complete or partial
remission, and among the 9 negative patients who received chemotherapy,
4 (44%) achieved complete or partial remission. No significant
difference in chemotherapy response was observed. There was no
significant difference in survival duration (positive patients,
n = 8, 819 ± 306 days versus negative patients,
n = 44, 795 ± 104 days, P =
0.7894).
As for DNA analysis, p53 gene mutations were detected in 3/8
patients (38%) with positive IHC. All p53 gene mutations
were point mutations. Two were missense mutations at codons 249 (AGG to
ATG) and 237 (ATA to ATG), and one was a rare mutation in a splice
donor site at the 5' end of the fifth intron. We had previously
reported two of these mutations.26,27
All patients with a
mutation had the presence of a complex karyotype with monosomy 17,
occurrence of leukemic transformation, and chemotherapy resistance.
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Discussion
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We examined the tumor suppressor gene, p53, in
elderly patients with MDS using both IHC and SSCP methods. We found
positive IHC in 8 of 52 (15%) patients and p53 gene
mutations in 3 of the 8 (38%) patients with positive IHC.
Previous studies revealed that the incidence of mutations in MDS was
025%. Sixty-five mutations (8%) were found among 776 patients
previously reported and almost all were point
mutations.8-20
Although we applied SSCP only for those
IHC-positive patients, the estimated minimum incidence of mutations in
our elderly patients was comparable to that in previous
studies.8-20
All detected mutations were point mutations.
Two were missense mutations (in codon 24926
and 237) and
one was a mutation in a splice donor site.27
The mutation
in codon 249 occurred in the early phase. This mutation may have
occurred in the presence of the wild-type allele and might have
contributed to the onset of the second event as discussed
previously.26
The loss of p53 function through
these mutations may contribute to the evolution of
MDS.5,6,28,29
The IHC p53-positive rate in previously reported studies ranged from 14
to 20%.23,30,31
Twenty patients (18%) were found to be
positive among 113 previously reported patients. The positive rate by
IHC is slightly higher than that by SSCP, especially in the early
stage. Discordant results between these two methods have been
reported23,32,33
and may derive from the differences
between these methods.4,13,21,32-34
For example, Lepelley
et al reported one IHC-positive MDS patient whose SSCP was initially
negative but turned positive in the leukemic phase, when the population
of the mutated clone reached the level of detectability by
SSCP.23
Although the concordance between a p53
gene mutation and the accumulation of p53 protein cannot be perfect,
IHC positivity in some patients may be a harbinger of p53
with altered function.
Although most of the patients with a chain-terminating mutation have
been reported to be IHC-negative,21,23
an accumulation of
p53 protein was detected in our patient with an intronic mutation. Such
accumulations have been reported in ovarian cancer35
and in
a cell line.36
In the present study, we observed positive staining not only in
myeloblasts but also in mature myeloid cells, erythroblasts, and
megakaryocytes. Most of the previous studies, which were comprised of
patients rather younger than ours, reported that positively stained
cells were almost always limited to myeloblasts or myeloid cells,
although uneven p53 expression has been noted among myeloblasts and
among the myeloid lineage cells at different maturation
stages.23,30,31
As we noticed that IHC-positive patients
with pattern B or C (range 7395, 81 ± 8 years) were older than
the two pattern A patients (69 and 71 years), we scrutinized the
expression patterns in the previously reported IHC-positive patients.
We found one therapy-related 80-year-old MDS patient with pattern C in
addition to pattern A patients (range 3475, 58 ± 14 years,
n = 8) in the report by Orazi et al.30
All
the patients reported by Kitagawa et al were pattern A,31
with a mean age of 64 ± 19 years (range 2178, n
= 7) (Kitagawa M, personal communication). Combining these data,
we found that the patients with pattern B or C, ie, multilineage
pattern (MLP) (range 7395, n = 7), were significantly
older than the patients with pattern A (range 2178, n
= 17, P = 0.0005). Furthermore, MLP was more frequently
found in patients older than 75 years than in those 75 years of age or
younger (6/7 vs. 1/17, P = 0.0003). These
data suggest that MLP of p53 IHC may be a characteristic of older MDS
patients. These findings also suggest that response to or effects of
accumulated p53 proteins seem to differ according to cell type and
stage of maturation.31,37
However, the biological and
clinical significance of MLP in older MDS patients has yet to be
clarified.
As to the relationship between IHC and clinical data, the incidence of
leukemic transformation was significantly higher in patients with
positive IHC than those with negative IHC, in accordance with the
previous reports.31
Although the p53 mutation
itself was associated with a high incidence of leukemic
transformation,15,17
our results indicate that the
IHC-positive population, including mutation-positive cases, is at risk
for a high incidence of leukemic transformation. Therefore, it might be
worthy of consideration to take p53 IHC results into account,
especially in the early stage, for estimations of the likelihood of
leukemic transformation.
All of our IHC-positive patients with mutations and monosomy 17
transformed to leukemia and were resistant to chemotherapy, which is
consistent with previously reported patients.26,27
Survival
of patients with a p53 mutation after the detection of
monosomy 17 was significantly shorter than in patients without such a
mutation (n = 3, 255 ± 38 days,
versus n = 49, 782 ± 97 days,
P = 0.0088), which is in accordance with previous
reports.26,38
As to the relationship between karyotype abnormalities and IHC, the
occurrence of monosomy 17 and a complex karyotype were higher in
patients with positive IHC, which is consistent with previously
reported patients.26,27
Our data suggest that p53 analysis is useful for predicting the
occurrence of leukemic transformation in MDS. Although IHC analysis
alone is useful for predicting occurrence of leukemic transformation,
analysis of p53 by IHC in combination with gene analysis may provide
instructive information on leukemic transformation, chemotherapy
resistance, and clinical outcome.
Accumulated p53 protein with mutations may be detectable by IHC in
early stages when the population of mutated clones is still too small
to be detected by SSCP. IHC analysis of p53 may provide information on
the status of p53 function different from gene sequences,
such as conformational changes without mutations, differences among
cell lineages, and differences among differentiation stages. We
observed positive staining not only in myeloblasts but also in mature
myeloid cells, erythroblasts, and megakaryocytes in some patients.
Scrutiny of our data combined with previous data revealed that
IHC-positive patients with MLP (pattern B or C) were significantly
older than those with pattern A and that MLP occurred more frequently
in patients who were older than 75 years than in those who were
younger. These data suggest that p53 IHC positivity with MLP may be a
characteristic of older MDS patients.
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Footnotes
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Address reprint requests to Masayuki Kikukawa, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Tokyo Medical University, 6-7-1, Nishi-shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0022, Japan. E-mail: mkikukawa{at}aol.com
Accepted for publication May 11, 1999.
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