Expression of the anti-apoptosis gene survivin and its clinical significance in human hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective:To study the clinical significance of the expression of survivin gene protein in human hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC). Methods: We detected the expression of survivin gene protein in 95 cases of HCC and its adjacent noncancerous tissues and 8 cases of liver tissues by using SABC immunohistochemical staining.The survivin mRNA expression was also detected by using RT-PCR in 8 cases of HCC.The correlation of the expression of survivin gene protein with histologic differentiation, clinical stages and tumor size was studied. Results:The positive expression rate of survivin gene protein in HCC(59.77%) was much higher than the adjacent noncancerous tissues(26.00%) and liver tissues (0.00%) (P0.01); The positive expression rate of survivin mRNA in HCC(37.5%) was much higher than the adjacent noncancerous tissue(0.00%)(P0.01);The survivin gene expression did not demonstrate correlation with histologic differentiation, clinical stages, and tumor size by statistical analysis. Conclusion:The up-regulation expression of survivin gene in HCC suggested that survivin participate in carcinogenesis.The fact that there was no significant correlation between survivin gene expression and histologic differentiation suggested that survivin is likely to be identified as a special index in diagnosis and a potential therapeutic target in HCC.