Astrocytomas are the most common tumors of the central nervous system (CNS). Their malignant counterparts, anaplastic astrocytoma and glioblastoma, are lethal neoplasms with poor clinical outcome and they frequently carry mutations of TP53 tumor suppressor gene. In order to determine the frequency and type of this molecular alteration in the Polish population, we analyzed the polymerase chain reaction products corresponding to the most conservative exons 5-8 for single-strand conformation polymorphism and confirmed the presence of mutations by direct DNA sequencing. We identified mutations in one of five (20%) anaplastic astrocytomas and in eight of 28 (29%) glioblastomas; the mutations were most frequently identified in the exon 8 (six glioblastomas). The frequency of TP53 mutations is thus similar to the corresponding data from other studies, and the type of mutations suggests the participation of endogenous etiological factor.