Abstract
WAF1/CIP1 is a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor which isdirectly induced by p53 and negatively controls cellproliferation. To test the hypothesis that increased levelsof WAF1 would be associated with a lowerS-phase fraction and better prognosis, WAF1 protein wasassessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 115 node-negative humanbreast tumors, and results were correlated with establishedprognostic factors and clinical outcome. Nuclear staining wasobserved in malignant cells in 43% of tumors.In most (90%) of the positive tumors, theproportion of cells staining for WAF1 was low(< 10%). WAF1 was not detected in thecytoplasm, or in non-malignant epithelium. Contrary to expectations,the accumulation of p53 protein, a surrogate markerof p53 inactivation, was weakly but positively associatedwith WAF1 expression (p=0.05). Surprisingly, therewas no significant correlation with S-phase fraction, ERor PgR status, tumor size, age, ploidy, nucleargrade, or survival.
Conclusion: WAF1 expression is found inthe nuclei of a small fraction of cellsin human breast tumors. WAF1 status is notsignificantly associated with cell proliferation, other established prognosticfactors, or clinical outcome.
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Diab, S., Yu, YY., Hilsenbeck, S. et al. WAF1/CIP1 protein expression in human breast tumors. Breast Cancer Res Treat 43, 99–103 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005752829260
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005752829260