Thirty cases of hemispheric astrocytic tumors of childhood, consisting of 11 pilocytic astrocytomas, 2 fibrillary astrocytomas, 9 anaplastic astrocytomas, and 8 glioblastomas, were studied for the presence of p53 mutations and for immunohistochemical demonstrations of p53 and proliferation markers PCNA and Ki-67 MIB-1. The study was performed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-assisted single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis of exons 5-8 and direct sequence analysis of PCR products. For immunohistochemistry, DO1 and PAb 1801 were used. No mutation and no positivity for p53 protein were found in pilocytic astrocytomas. Mutations (at codons 144, 202, and 245) were found in 2 out of 8 glioblastomas and in 1 out of 9 anaplastic astrocytomas, whereas positive staining was found in 11 out of 17 malignant gliomas. Cases with mutations showed the highest p53 labeling index and also PCNA and MIB-1 labeling indices. The negative results in pilocytic astrocytomas are in line with the benign course of these tumors, whereas for malignant gliomas no difference seems to exist in comparison with adult cases.