Background: New biological factors have not been extensively studied in stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We aimed to determine the role of p53 as a prognostic factor in such patients.
Materials and methods: p53 expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry and evaluated by three independent observers. The Cox model was used to assess the impact of clinical and biological factors on patient survival.
Results: Between 01/1987 and 07/2002, 93 stage III NSCLC patients were included. Twenty-eight had a p53-positive tumour. There was no survival difference among patients with p53-positive and -negative tumours (p = 0.46). In multivariate analysis, 3 factors were statistically significantly associated with survival: surgical resection (p = 0.009), good performance status (p = 0.02) and low creatinine level (p = 0.02).
Conclusion: Good performance status, surgical resection and low creatinine level were independent favourable prognostic factors for survival in stage III NSCLC, while p53 was not, even in univariate analysis.