Background: Following therapeutic irradiation after a latency period of many years radiation-induced tumors, often sarcomas, can arise. Results of radiation-induced DNA damage can be 1. p53 over-expression, inducing growth arrest or apoptosis, and 2. occurrence of mutations, frequently including the p53 gene, as one molecular promotor for carcinogenesis. We were interested whether radiation-induced sarcomas are associated with alterations of the p53 status.
Material and methods: Samples from 11 radiation-induced soft-tissue sarcomas (STS) were studied by a non-radioactive PCR-SSCP sequencing analysis and by immunohistochemistry with five antibodies for their p53 status.
Results: A tumor of one patient possessed a G->A transition in codon 280 (exon 8). Of 11 tumors, 9 showed nuclear p53 positivity, detected by monoclonal antibody DO-1. Of these 9 patients, 7 died during the observation period, whereas the 2 patients with DO-1 negative tumor samples are still alive.
Conclusions: p53 over-expression and p53 mutation occur in radiation-induced STS. p53 status is expected to have prognostic impact for radiation-induced STS.