[PCR-SSCP and sequencing analysis on mutations of anti-oncogene p53 in asbestos-related lung cancer].

To explore the carcinogenic effect of asbestos at molecular level, we directly analyzed the mutations of exon 5, 7 and 8 of anti-oncogene p53 in paraffin-embedded human lung tissue affected by asbestos for the first time. Mutations of p53 gene located in exon 5, 7 and 8 were detected in 7 of 10 cases by polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) analysis. The mutation rate found in this study is 70%. Two cases were analyzed by PCR product direct sequencing and C-->A and T-->A transformations were detected. Mutation of p53 gene may be one of the characteristics of asbestos-related lung cancer.