Expressions of p53 and PCNA do not correlate with the international index or early response to chemotherapy in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The expression of p53 and PCNA on deparaffinized sections of tumor was assessed in relation to the International Index and response to chemotherapy. Thirty-five non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients were divided into three groups: aggressive NHL, mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), and low-grade NHL. None of the expressions correlated with the International Index or early response to chemotherapy in any group. In low-grade NHL, none of the patients expressed p53. Only one of three patients with overexpression of p53 showed conformational change and alteration of sequence in exon 7 by PCR-SSCP and DNA sequencing. The results showed that p53 and PCNA staining were not useful for predicting early response to chemotherapy, and that their expressions had no correlation with the International Index.