Our objective was to investigate the prognostic significance of bcl-2
protein, p53
protein and
HLA-DR antigen expression in a group of surgically treated
parotid cancer patients. We studied bcl-2, p53 and
HLA-DR immunohistochemical expression in
paraffin-embedded surgically removed tissue specimens derived from 26 patients with
parotid cancer and 9 patients with Warthin parotid
tumors operated between 2000 and 2006 at the Hippokration Hospital of Athens. The staining results were correlated with the patients' clinicopathological characteristics and clinical outcome. Bcl-2 expression was associated with a significantly decreased survival in patients with advanced
tumor stage (P = 0.04), high grade lesions (P = 0.02), or cervical node involvement (P = 0.03).
Radiotherapy was associated with a significantly improved recurrence-free survival among patients with negative
tumor staining for either bcl-2, or both
HLA-DR and bcl-2 [
HLA-DR(-)/Bcl-2(-)] (P = 0.04 for both comparisons). Classical clinicopathologic factors failed to show prognostic value both in the univariate and the multivariate analyses performed. Our results suggest that bcl-2 can be used to identify locally advanced or histologically aggressive
tumors with a lower survival probability following the application of standard treatment modalities. Furthermore, bcl-2(+) patients should be considered for more aggressive adjuvant treatment protocols, since conventional
radiotherapy often fails to decrease relapse rates in this setting of patients.