Purpose: p73 belongs to the p53 tumor suppressor family of genes and can inhibit cell growth in a p53-like manner by inducing apoptosis or cell cycle arrest. Here, we investigated whether p73 could compensate for impaired p53 function in apoptosis induced by radiation therapy (RT) for cervical cancer.
Methods and materials: Sixty-eight patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix who received definitive RT combined with (n=37) or without (n=31) cisplatin were investigated. Biopsy specimens were excised from the cervical tumor before RT and after 9 Gy.
Results: Mean apoptosis index (AI) was 0.93% before RT and 1.97% after 9 Gy with a significant increase (p<0.001). For all patients, there was a significant correlation between p73 expression positivity after 9 Gy and AI ratio (AI after 9 Gy/AI before RT) (p=0.021). Forty-one patients were regarded as the p53-responding group according to the expression of p53 after 9 Gy, whereas the remaining 27 patients were regarded as the p53-nonresponding group. A significant correlation between p73 expression after 9 Gy and AI ratio was observed in the p53-non-responding group (p<0.001) but not in the p53-responding group (p=0.940).
Conclusion: Our results suggest that p73 plays an important role in compensating for the lack of p53 function in radiation-induced apoptosis of cervical cancer.