There is a growing interest in studying cell cycle and apoptosis in the myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). p53 has been a major target of several studies. We examined the impact of antibody selection on p53 overexpression in bone marrow (BM) biopsies of 28 patients with refractory anemia (RA) in addition to 10 cases of aplastic anemia (AA) using three antibodies DO-7, PAb 1801, and PAb 240. DO-7 was positive in 68%, PAb 1801 in 18% and PAb240 in 4% of RA patients. All three antibodies were negative in AA. We conclude that antibody selection is an important variable in studying p53 in MDS regardless of the method of fixation or decalcification of BM trephine biopsies.