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Immunohistochemical staining patterns of p53 predict the mutational status of TP53 in oral epithelial dysplasia

Modern Pathology volume 35, pages 177–185 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Next-generation sequencing of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has revealed TP53 as the most frequently mutated gene in OSCC mutually exclusive with human papillomavirus infection. Oral epithelial dysplasia (OED) is defined as a precancerous lesion of OSCC by the current World Health Organization (WHO) classification; therefore, it is assumed that TP53 mutations occur in early precancerous conditions such as OED. Here, we conducted an integrated analysis of TP53, including whole coding sequencing of TP53, FISH analysis of the 17p13.1 locus, and immunohistochemical analysis for p53 (p53-IHC), in 40 OED cases. We detected 20 mutations in 16 (40%) OED cases, and four cases, each harbored two mutations. FISH analysis revealed six of 24 cases (25%) had a deletion on 17p13.1, and four cases had concurrent TP53 mutations and 17p13.1 deletion (2-hit). Also, the increased frequency of TP53 mutations in higher degrees of OED implies acquisition of the mutation is a major event toward OSCC. p53-IHC revealed that overall cases could be categorized into four patterns that correlate well with the mutational status of TP53. Especially, two patterns, broad p53 expression type (pattern HI) and p53 null type (pattern LS), strongly correlated with a missense mutation and nonsense mutation, respectively. Furthermore, seven of the 40 cases progressed to SCC, and six of these seven cases presented pattern HI or LS. Therefore, patterns HI and LS have a high risk for malignant transformation if excisional treatment is not performed irrespective of the dysplasia grade. Although the current WHO classification mainly focuses on morphological criteria for the diagnosis of OED, interobserver discrepancy appears in some instances of the OED diagnosis. Our immunohistochemical analysis supports a more accurate pathological diagnosis for OED in cases of low dysplastic changes or of differential diagnosis with non-dysplastic lesions.

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Fig. 1: Patterns of TP53 mutations in 40 OED cases.
Fig. 2: Association of TP53 mutation and dysplasia grade.
Fig. 3: p53-IHC staining patterns and schemas of OED.
Fig. 4: Integrated TP53 gene profiles of 40 OED cases.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ms. Kazuko Matsuno, Kyoko Kiuchi, Yuko Ohno, Tomohiro Aoki, and Kumiko Osawa for their technical assistance. The authors received no specific funding for this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Saitama Medical Center, Saitama Medical University, Saitama, Japan

    Keisuke Sawada, Shuji Momose, Ryutaro Kawano, Morihiro Higashi & Jun-ichi Tamaru

  2. Diagnostics and Therapeutics of Intractable Diseases, Intractable Disease Research Center, Graduate School of Medicine, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan

    Masakazu Kohda & Yasushi Okazaki

  3. Division of Anatomical and Cellular Pathology, Department of Pathology, Iwate Medical University, Iwate, Japan

    Tarou Irié

  4. Division of Pathology, Department of Oral Diagnostic Sciences, Showa University School of Dentistry, Tokyo, Japan

    Kenji Mishima

  5. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Saitama Medical Center, Saitama Medical University, Saitama, Japan

    Takahiro Kaneko & Norio Horie

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  1. Keisuke Sawada
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Contributions

K.S., S.M., M.H. and JI.T. designed and performed the research, analyzed and interpreted data, and wrote the paper. K.S., S.M., R.K. and T.I. performed the pathological review of the cases. K.S., S.M. and R.K. provided the study material or patients. M.K., K.M. and Y.O. provided technical support. T.K. and N.H. supervised the assembly of the clinical data. All authors read and approved the final paper.

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Correspondence to Shuji Momose.

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The present study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Saitama Medical Center (No 1967) and conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Sawada, K., Momose, S., Kawano, R. et al. Immunohistochemical staining patterns of p53 predict the mutational status of TP53 in oral epithelial dysplasia. Mod Pathol 35, 177–185 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41379-021-00893-9

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