Eight studies evaluated the prognostic significance of p53 in anal carcinoma (Table 1) (Tanum and Holm, 1996; Bonin et al, 1999; Indinnimeo et al, 1999; Wong et al, 1999; Allal et al, 2003; Le et al, 2005; Nilsson et al, 2006; Ajani et al, 2009). Here, TP53 is linked to anal carcinoma.