Expression of survivin and caspase-3 and its relationship to apoptosis in gastric carcinoma

Objectives: To evaluate the expression of survivin and caspase 3 in patients with gastric carcinoma, and its association with tumor cell apoptosis. Methods: The expression of survivin and caspase 3 was investigated immunohistochemically in 60 gastric carcinoma patients without the history of radioactive or chemical therapy. Among 56 of them, tumor cell apoptosis was examined by ISEL method. Results:Survivin was only expressed in carcinoma, and caspase 3 was expressed more obviously in normal tissues than in carcinoma tissues. Both of the expression of survivin and caspase 3 had significant differences among different histological grades. The expression of survivin was significantly associated with different pathological stages, but the expression of caspase 3 was not so. The expression of survivin in carcinoma was not directly related to that of caspase 3. Patients with survivin(-) and caspase 3(+) had the maximum apoptosis index. Conclusions: Intensity of survivin was associated with the histological grades and pathological stages. As an apoptosis inhibitor, survivin obviously inhibited the apoptosis of tumor cells, but could not completely inhibit the expression of caspase 3.