Down regulation of bcl-2 by p53 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and lack of detection of its specific t(14;18) chromosomal translocation in fixed tissues

High levels of bcl‐2 protein have been found in a wide variety of human cancers. Since p53 gene inactivation occurs in over half of human cancers, it is possible that loss of p53‐mediated repression of bcl‐2 gene expression accounts, at least in part, for the frequent abnormalities in bcl‐2 protein production seen in tumours. By using immunohistochemical methods, we have analysed thirty‐three nasopharyngeal carcinomas for p53 and bcl‐2 expression. We found an inverse correlation between the expression of these two proteins (P