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Comparison of acquired mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene can illuminate factors contributing to carcinogenesis among cancer cohorts. Japan has an ethnically homogeneous population with a low incidence of breast cancer. Previously we reported an unusual frequency, allelic status, and clustering of mutations in breast cancers from the northern part of the main Japanese island. To extend these findings, exons 2-11 and adjacent intronic sequences were analysed in tumors of women from northern (Hokkaido) and southern (Tokushima) Japan. The frequency of breast cancers with p53 gene mutations in the Hokkaido group is the highest reported (81%) while that in Tokushima (28%) is similar to most other populations. Thirteen of the 19 mutations (68.4%) in the Hokkaido cohort were heterozygous, an unusually high frequency for p53 mutations in any tumor type. There were three missense mutations at codon 175, a known hotspot for alterations in the p53 gene, and three missense mutations at codon 179, a rare site for p53 changes. In addition, the patterns of p53 gene mutation differed between the two Japanese cohorts (P=0.04). The multiple differences in acquired p53 mutations suggest unsuspected biological differences among breast cancers in northern and southern Japan. In addition, the high frequency of p53 mutations in breast cancers from Hokkaido predicted a poorer prognosis for this population which was confirmed on examination of mortality data.

Most studies of mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene in tumors have examined only exons 5-8. Our laboratory previously found 64 mutations in exons 5-8 of the p53 gene in 194 primary breast cancers. Herein, we report 18 additional mutations found outside of exons 5-8. Mutations are present in exons 4, 9 and 10, and flanking splice junctions, but not in the promotor region or in exons 1, 2, 3 and 11. No missense mutations are found outside of exons 5-8. Instead, there is a predominance of frameshift mutations with lesser numbers of nonsense and splice site mutations. In contrast, the majority of mutations in exons 5-8 in this sample are missense changes and all of these are at amino acids that are identical in the 11 known p53 sequences that represent about 1.6 billion years of evolutionary divergence. The difference in mutational pattern between these two regions of the p53 gene is due to a lack of missense mutations and inframe microdeletions outside of exons 5-8. A review of our database of p53 mutations (De Vries et al., in preparation) shows that the patterns of mutation inside and outside of exons 5-8 differ in other types of cancers as well. The paucity of missense mutations in exons 2-4 and 9-11 in breast and other cancers (even at amino acids identical throughout p53 gene evolution) suggest that at least some missense mutations result in a phenotype other than malignant transformation. These data also illustrate the importance of examining identical exons when comparing the pattern of p53 gene mutations in different populations.

We determined the pattern of mutations in exons 2-11 and adjacent intronic regions in breast cancers from Midwestern US white women. Twenty-one mutations were detected in 53 tumors (39.6%). Comparisons of the pattern of mutations within exons 5-9 showed that the frequency of missense mutations (44%) was lower in breast cancers of US Midwestern women than in most tumor types including breast cancers in other populations. Compared to breast cancers reported in a Scottish population, US women had a high frequency of G:C-->T:A transversions (P = 0.046). These findings suggest that environmental or endogenous factors contribute to p53 mutagenesis in mammary tissue to different extents among different populations. With a median follow-up of 19 months, the presence of a mutation was associated with shorter time to disease recurrence (P = 0.05) and shorter survival (P = 0.003). Putative dominant negative missense-type mutations (missense and in-frame microdeletions; P = 0.001) and null mutations (hemizygous nonsense and frameshift mutations; P = 0.007) were equally ominous. Thus, tumors with missense p53 mutations resulting in over-expression of a dysfunctional but otherwise intact protein have a clinical outcome similar to tumors with null mutations resulting in a truncated or garbled protein.