Expression of survivin in oral squamous cell carcinoma and analysis of its correlation with COX-2

Objective:To detect the expression of a novel inhibitor gene of apoptosis,survivin,in oral squamous cell carcinoma and analyze its correlation with the expression of COX-2.Method:In 50 oral squamous cell carcinoma tissues and 10 normal oral mucosa tissues,the expression of survivin and COX-2 were examined by using the streptavidin-biotin peroxidase(S-P) method.Result:In contrast to negative expression in normal oral mucosa,surviving was expressed in 44 of 50(88%) cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma samples.There was no significant correlation between survivin expression and age and sex.Survivin expression was increased in poorly differentiated tumours,even if differences were not statistically significant.The expression of survivin was positively correlated with that of COX-2(Spearman correlation=(0.383),P0.05).Conclusion:The specific up regulation of survivin in oral squamous cell carcinoma suggested that survivin may play an important role in the process of carcinogenesis.A positive correlation between expressions of survivin and COX-2 was observed,it was speculated that there may be a common transcription mechanism which constructed multiple pathways contributing to the inhibition of apoptosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma.