P53 MUTATION IN HUMAN HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA IN INDIA

We have analysed a number of primary hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), both fresh and paraffin-embedded tissues, for the presence of a hotspot mutation in p53 at the 249th codon of exon 7. Of the samples analysed, ten were found to be hepatitis-B antigen-positive and one among them showed the hotspot mutation. We have shown that paraffin-embedded samples can easily be used for PCR analysis of mutations. Our results show that alteration in this mutational hotspot is not very frequent in Indian HCC cases similar to the situation obtained in Australia and Taiwan and that hepatitis B virus infection cannot be a major factor for alteration in the 249th codon of exon 7 in p53.