Expression of survivin in hepatocellular carcinoma and its correlation with expression of p53 and Bcl-2

Objective To explore the expression and location of survivin gene in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC),and its correlation with histological differentiation,clinical stages,the size of tumors,etiology,treatment,and expression of mutant p53 and Bcl-2.Methods SABC immunohistochemical staining was employed to detect the expression of survivin in 87 cases of HCC tissues,50 cases of adjacent noncancerous tissues,4 types of human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines and 27 cases of hepatic tissues without hepatoma deparaffinized sections,respectively.Real time-PCR and Western blot method were employed to detect the expression of survivin mRNA and protein in 8 cases of HCC tissues and 4 types of human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines,respectively.And the expression of mutant p53 and Bcl-2 was also detected in 30 cases of HCC tissues.The correlation of survivin expression with HBV infection,HCV infection,clinical stages,pathology classification,the size of tumors,and treatment was analyzed in 74 patients who had complete hospitalized records.Results ①The positive expression rate of survivin protein in HCC tissues was significantly higher than in adjacent noncancerous tissues and hepatic tissues without hepatoma(59.77% vs 26.00%,0,P0.01),respectively.Survivin expression showed no correlation with the ages and genders of the patients,the size of tumors,metastasis,clinical stages,pathology classification(P0.05).②The positive rate of survivin mRNA was higher in 8 cases of fresh HCC tissues than in adjacent noncancerous tissues(37.5% vs 0,P0.01).The survivin mRNA and protein were highly expressed in SMMC-7721,HHCC,and HCC-9724,but not HepG2.③In HCC tissues,survivin expression was correlated with mutant p53(χ2=4.693,P=0.030),but not with Bcl-2(χ2=0.25,P=0.617).Conclusion The results indicate that survivin gene can be regarded as a very good target gene in genetic therapy for carcinomas.The detection of survivin expression may have no clinical value for evaluating malignancy degree and prognosis of HCC.