Purpose:
To assess p53 expression and proliferative activity in primary and recurrent pterygia from the same eyes.
Design:
Retrospective comparative human tissue study.
Participants:
Tissue from excised primary pterygia that did not recur (group a, n = 10) was compared with tissue from primary pterygia that recurred (group b, n = 10) and to the recurrent pterygia tissue that was excised from subjects in group b (group c, n = 10). ten normal conjunctivas served as controls (group d).
Methods:
Sections from each pterygium were immunostained with the mib-1 and bp53. 12 monoclonal antibodies that react with ki-67 and p53 antigens, respectively.
Main outcome measures:
Proliferative activity was calculated as the mean of the mib-1 positive cell count per eyepiece grid in high magnification (x40) (positive cell count/grid). percentage of positive cells of all cells in the grid area was evaluated in the p53-stained sections.
Results:
Proliferative activity was found in the epithelium overlying the pterygia and normal conjunctiva. the mean mib-1 positive cell count/grid +/- standard error was 2.84 +/- 1.07, 1.74 +/- 0.82, 3.83 +/- 1.35, and 0.86 +/- 0.33 in groups a, b, c, and d, respectively (p = 0.17, kruskal-wallis). p53 staining was found in 50% of pterygia in groups a, b, and c; none of the normal conjunctival tissues showed p53 immunoreactivity. four of five p53-positive tissues in group b were p53-negative in group c. in the p53-positive pterygia, less than 10% of cells were p53 positive. however, p53-positive pterygia had higher mean mib-1 positive cell count/grid +/- standard error as compared with the p53-negative lesions, 4.56 +/- 0.94 vs 1.39 +/- 0.59 (p = 0.021, mann-whitney).
Conclusions:
P53 immunoreactivity and high proliferative activity in the epithelium overlying the pterygium are not associated with recurrence of pterygium.