Background P53 is one of the most studied tumor suppressors in the cancer research, and over 50% of human tumors carry P53 mutations. MDM-2 is amplified and/or overexpressed in a variety of human tumors of diverse tissue origin. The aim of this study was to examine the expression of P53 protein and MDM-2 protein in gliomas, and to investigate the relationship between the expression of the two proteins and the histopathological grades of glioma. The relationship between MDM-2 protein expression and P53 protein expression was also analyzed.Methods The expression of P53 protein and MDM-2 protein was immunohistochemically detected using monoclonal antibodies in 242 paraffin embedded tissues, including 30 normal brain tissues from patients with craniocerebral injury and 212 tissues from patients with primary glioma (grade Ⅰ-Ⅱ group: 5 cases of grade Ⅰ, 119 cases of grade Ⅱ; and grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ group: 53 cases of grade Ⅲ, and 35 cases of grade Ⅳ).Results The P53 positive rate was significantly higher in the glioma groups than in the control group (P ＜0.0001). The P53 positive rate was significantly higher in glioma tissues of grade Ⅲ-V than in glioma tissues of grade Ⅰ-Ⅱ group (P=0.001). The MDM-2 positive rate was significantly higher in glioma groups than in the control group (P ＜0.0001).There was no significant difference in the MDM-2 positive rate between the two glioma groups (P=0.936). The expression of P53 protein was not related to expression of MDM-2 protein (P=0.069)Conclusions Overexpression of P53 protein might be related to the occurrence and progression of glioma.Overexpression of MDM-2 protein may play an important role in glioma tumorigenesis, but may not be involved in glioma progression. The overexpression of MDM-2 protein was an early event in malignant transformation of glioma. MDM-2 may be a key player in glioma in its own right.