Detection of p53 gene mutation in lung preneoplastic lesions

Objective: To compare the frequency of p53 gen e mutations in "lung cancerous"hyperplasia with that in"pneumonia" hyperplasia to provide optimal molecular marker for earlier diagonosis of "genuine" preneoplastic lesions Methods: p53 gene mutations in 80 hyperplastic epithelial lesions obtained from patients with squamous cell carcinoma and 51 matched epithelial lesions obtained from patients without lung cancer were screened by polymerase chain reaction single strand conformation polymorphism a nd DNA sequencing analysis Results: No significant difference of p53 mutations was observed between the "lung cancerous" hyperplasia from Ⅰ to Ⅳ grade, which were 7%（1/15)、33%（4/12)、38%（5/13)、30%（3/10) respectively and "pneumonia" matched hyperplasia, which were 7%（1/15)、25%（3/12)、36%（5/14)、40% （4/10) respectively.Conclusion: There is no different rate of p53 mutations between "lung cancerous" hyperplasia and "pneumonia" hyperplasia, and it is suggested that p53 gene would not be an optimal molecular marker for earlier diagonosis of "genuine" preneoplastic lesions