p53 mutations in breast cancer linked to outcome

Mutations in conserved regions II and V of the p53 gene are associated with significantly worse prognosis in breast cancer patients, new sequencing data from a Swedish study have shown (Nature Medicine, October). Of 316 primary breast cancers examined, p53 sequencing defined 69 individual mutations throughout the whole coding sequence. Follow-up showed patients with p53 mutations in their primary breast cancer had significantly shorter relapse-free, breast cancer-corrected and overall survival in the study population and in the subgroup of patients with axillary lymph node-positive disease.