The expression and significance of Livin and Smac in epithelial ovarian carcinoma tissues

Objective:To study the expression of Livin and Smac in epithelial ovarian carcinoma tissues and their relationship with clinical characteristic.Methods:Immunohistochemical SABC method and image analysis system were used to observe the expression of Livin and Smac proteins in 20 normal ovarian tissues,20 benign ovarian tumor tissues and 50 malignant epithelial ovarian carcinoma tissues.Results:The expression level of Livin in malignant tumor was significantly higher than those in normal ovarian tissues and benign tumor tissues(P0.01).There was a positive correlation between the expression of Livin and the tumor grade and was no statistically significant correlation between tumor stage;The expression of Smac in malignant tumor was lower than those in normal tissues and benign tumor tissues(P0.01)and was negatively related to tumor stage and tumor grade(P0.05).Conclusion:The increased expression of Livin and depressed expression of Smac may play an important role in the process of carcinogenesis and differentiation of epithelial ovarian carcinoma;Livin and Smac may be useful targets for treatment of ovarian carcinoma.