Expression of Antiapoptosis Gene,Survivin,Correlated with the Expression of p53 and c-erbB2 in Gastric Carcinoma

Purpose To study the expression of survivin,an inhibitor of apoptosis protein,in gastric carcinomas and its relationship with the expression of p53,c erbB2. Methods Using immunohistochemical staining method,we examined the expression of survivin,p53 and c erbB2 genes in 20 cases of chronic gastritis and 56 cases of gastric carcinomas. Results Survivin expressed in 27 of 56(48.2%) cases of gastric carcinoma tissues and 1 of 20(5%) cases of chronic gastritis.Over expression of survivin had no relation with age,tumor depth,tumor size,and disease stage,but was significantly related to histological type.The expression of survivin significantly segregated with intestinal type cases as compared with diffuse type cases.Survivin positive cases were significantly associated with p53 expression(15/22,68.2% versus 12/34,35.3%, P 0.05) and c erbB2 expression(16/20,80% versus 11/36,30.6%, P 0.01). Conclusions These data indicated that survivin play an important role in the onset of gastric cacinoma and suggested potential correlation between survivin and c erbB2,and between survivin and p53 as well.