The Expression And Significance Of Survivin In Oral Squamous Cell Carcinomas And The Correlation With The Expression Of Bcl-2, P53, Bax And PTEN

Objective: To study the expression of survivin, a novel member of inhibitors of apoptosis protein (IAP) and its significance in oral squamous cell carcinomas and to discover the relationship between the expression of survivin and that of bcl-2, P53,bax and PTEN. Method: The expression of survivin in 27 cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and 1 case of mammary carcinoma and 11 cases of oral normal tissue samples were examined by immunohistochemistry two-step method. All these patients hadn't accept chemotherapy, radiotherapy and biologic therapy before operation. Result: The expression of survivin was detected in a significantly greater proportion of 27 cases in oral squamous cell carcinoma samples than in 11 cases of normal tissues (88.89% vs 0; P<0.01). Significant differences were found in the values of survivin expression according to pathology classification(p<0.05)and positive rates were increasing with the tumor pathology grade. Survivin expression was not associated with lymph node metastasis, age, and sex(p>0.05), though survivin expression was higher in patients displaying lymph node metastasis (100%) than without the metastasis (82.35%). In different position survivin expression was detected significant differences(p<0.05). The positive rates of the expression of bcl-2, P53, bax, and PTEN in oral squamous cell carcinoma were 85.19%,77.78%,81.48%,74.07%, and in oral normal tissues were 0,0,100%,96.3%. In oral squamous cell carcinoma the expression of survivin was correlated with the expression of bcl-2 and P53 ; in contrast, was negatively related to the expression of bax and PTEN(p<0.05). Conclusion: 1,Survivin is expressed in oral squamous cell carcinoma but not expressed in oral normal tissues. The expression is significantly associated with pathology classification, while not associated with age, sex and lymph node metastasis. 2,In oral squamous cell carcinoma the expression of survivin is correlated with the expression of bcl-2 and P53 ; in contrast, is negatively related to the expression of bax and PTEN. 3,These findings indicate that survivin expression is correlated with the malignant potential and development of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Survivin may be a special tumor marker and a new target in tumor therapy. It may play an important role in early diagnoses and prognosis estimation.