Malignant gliomas are the most frequent primary brain tumors. Recent studies defined several genetic markers, which might characterize molecular-biological subsets of glioblastomas with probably prognostic implications. To elucidate the involvement of murine-double-minute (mdm)2 gene amplifications and mutations of the tumor suppressor gene p53 in the tumorigenesis of malignant gliomas we analyzed a series of 75 glioblastomas. The p53 mutations occur in one-third of glioblastomas, mdm2 amplifications were found in 13% of cases. Our analysis revealed a hot spot in the p53 gene locus in codon 156, the same point mutation was detected in 4 tumor samples. None of the mdm2 amplified tumors had p53 mutations, supporting the hypothesis, that mdm2 amplifications are alternative mechanisms for p53 inactivation. Patients with p53 mutated tumors were significantly younger characterized by a mean age of 44 years. Additionally association with longer overall survival could be detected for this subgroup of patients. In our study, survival estimation revealed a significant correlation of mdm2 gene amplification with shorter survival time, and support the hypothesis, that mdm2 oncogene activation appears to occur late in tumor progression and may be characteristic as negative prognostic marker.