Of the ovarian cancer specimens, 78.6% (121 of 154) harboured p53 mutations and 21.4% (33 of 154) were wild-type p53. p53 mutant carcinomas were significantly associated with older age at diagnosis (median 58 vs 50 years, P<0.001) and adverse tumour grade (III vs I/II, P<0.001) compared with p53 wild-type carcinomas. This evidence concerns the gene TP53 and carcinoma.