Horn cancer is one of the most important diseases in Zebu castrated male cattle. The objective of this study was to investigate the presence of p53 gene mutation in the blood of affected cattle and its value for early diagnosis and prognosis. The study was conducted on blood samples from 20 affected cattle and six healthy control cattle from Western India. Plasma samples were evaluated for the presence of p53 gene mutation using the polymerase chain reaction-single-strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) technique and the results were correlated with the stage of cancer. Five of the 20 cases had stage I neoplasms, nine stage II and six stage III, based on histopathological examination. PCR-SSCP analysis revealed an aberrant pattern of DNA migration on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of DNA extracts from blood samples of six animals with stage II and stage III cancer. No mutation was identified in blood from cattle with stage I cancer or from healthy control cattle. These results suggest that PCR-SSCP detection of p53 gene mutation in blood has potential diagnostic and prognostic value, and indicate the need for further large-scale investigation.

角癌是瘤牛阉割公牛最重要的疾病之一。本研究的目的是调查受累牛血液中p53基因突变的存在及其对早期诊断和预后的价值。该研究是对来自印度西部的 20 头受影响牛和 6 头健康对照牛的血液样本进行的。评估血浆样品中p53的存在使用聚合酶链反应-单链构象多态性（PCR-SSCP）技术进行基因突变，结果与癌症分期相关。根据组织病理学检查，20 例中有 5 例为 I 期肿瘤，9 例为 II 期和 6 例为 III 期。PCR-SSCP 分析显示，对来自 II 期和 III 期癌症的六只动物的血液样本的 DNA 提取物进行聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳，发现 DNA 迁移的异常模式。在患有 I 期癌症的牛或健康对照牛的血液中没有发现突变。这些结果表明 PCR-SSCP 检测血液中p53基因突变具有潜在的诊断和预后价值，并表明需要进一步的大规模调查。