Journal of the National Cancer Institute
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J. Natl. Cancer Inst. · Jan 1997
p53 status and prognosis of locally advanced prostatic adenocarcinoma: a study based on RTOG 8610.
The p53 tumor suppressor gene (also known as TP53) is one of the most frequently mutated genes in human cancer. Several studies have shown that p53 mutations are infrequent in prostate cancer and are associated with advanced disease. ⋯ The interaction of radiation therapy plus hormone therapy and abnormal p53 protein expression may provide a clinical link to experimental evidence that radiation therapy and/or hormone therapy act, at least in part, by the induction of apoptosis (a cell death program) and suggests that this mechanism may be blocked in patients whose tumors have p53 mutations.