Expression of survivin and its clinical significance in colon cancer

Objective To detect the survivin expression in colon cancer and evaluate its clinical application. Methods The immunohistochemistry technique was used to detect the expression of survivin protein in the colon cance-rous tissues of 28 cases; while the survivin mRNA expression was detected by real-time RT-PCR. Pre-operative peripheral blood samples of those patients were collected for quantifying the survivin mRNA. Thirteen cases of non-cancerous colon lesion tissue samples and the peripheral blood samples of 30 healthy volunteers were used as controls. Results The expression of the survivin protein was detectable in 96.4% of the colon cancerous tissues. The expression of the survivin mRNA was detectable in all of them with an average copy number of 1.22×105/mg and found in 46% of the non-cancerous colon lesion tissues with an average copy number of 1.59×103/mg. There was significant difference in the survivin expression rate and the mRNA quantity between the patient samples and the controls (P0.01 and P0.05, respectively). The survivin mRNA expression was also observed in 81.5% of the peripheral blood in the patients with colon cancer, but none in the healthy controls. Conclusions The expression of survivin is closely correlated with colon cancer. The existance of survivin in the peripheral blood implies the exfoliation of the tumor cells from the cancerous tissues. Therefore, the quantification of survivin mRNA in the peripheral blood in the patients with colon cancer may be a useful marker for evaluating tumor recurrence and prognosis.