Expression of Survivin and Caspase-3 in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Objective:To investigate the role of survivin and caspase-3expression in the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).[WTHZ]Methods: Forty histologically verified HCC specimens and their neighboring noncancerous tissues were obtained.Immunohistochemistry was used to detect protein expressions of survivin and caspase-3. TUNEL was employed to examine the apoptosis index of HCC tissues. Results:Survivin protein expression was detected in 34 of 40(85%) cases. In contrast, no expression of survivin in corresponding noncancerous tissues was detected. The positive rate of survivin expression in the cases with intrahepatic metastasis was 93.5%,higher than those without intrahepatic metastasis (55.6%,P0.05),and the rate of survivin expression in the cases with portal vein invasion was 92.8%,higher than those without portal vein invasion (66.7%,P0.05). The levels of survivin mRAN in cases with intrahepatic metastasis(1.105±0.396) and portal vein invasion (1.137±0.404)were significantly higher than those without intrahepatic metastasis(0.572±0.082) and portal vein invasion (0.627±0.122,P0.05). The expression of caspase-3 was detected in 15 of 40(37.5%)cases and 77.5% in noncancerous tissues. By TUNEL the survivin expression was significantly associated with reduced apoptosis index[(1.152%±0.326%) vs.( 4.502%±0.830%),P0.05].In contrast caspase-3 expression was associated with increased apoptosis index (5.016%±0.370% vs 1.927%±0.237%,P0.05).The expression of caspase-3 was 29.4% in the cases with survivin expression lower than the cases without survivin expression (83.3%).Conclusion: Survivin expression may play an important role in HCC carcinogenesis. And the expression of survivin is associated with reduced apoptosis index.