Abstract
Background: Mutation of the p53 gene is one of the most common events in oral carcinogenesis. Immunohistochemical over expression of p53 gene is considered as a marker of poor prognosis in many human cancers. Aims & objective: The present study aimed to evaluate a role of p53 overexpression in the prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Methods: It is a prospective cross sectional study that included total 30 oral biopsy samples diagnosed for oral squamous cell carcinoma and processed to analyse p53 over expression by immunohistochemical staining. Results: Out of 30 cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma, 17 cases (56.66%) were found positive for p53 over expression whereas 13 cases (43.33%) found negative. 22 cases (73.33%) were from well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma whereas 08 cases (26.67%) were from moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. On the basis of intensity of p53 overexpression; 13 cases (43.33%) revealed strong nuclear positivity, 03 cases (10.01%) revealed weak nuclear positivity and 01 case (03.33%) showed moderate nuclear positivity. Out of 22 cases of well differentiated carcinoma, 10 cases showed positive overexpression of p53 whereas 12 cases were negative for overexpression. Out of 8 cases of moderately differentiated carcinoma, 7 cases were positive for p53 overexpression whereas 1 case revealed negative p53 overexpression. Hence, the results showed significant association of oral squamous cell carcinoma with the intensity of p53 expressions.(p value 0.0398) Conclusion: The p53 over expression is useful prognostic biomarker in oral squamous cell carcinoma and therefore more large scale studies are needed to evaluate its prognostic significance in the loco-regional population.

Key words: P53 over expression, Immunohistochemistry, Oral Squamous cell Carcinoma