Background and objective: Survivin, a member of inhibitors of apoptosis protein (IAP) family, is expressed in most tumors as well as in different subcelluar units of tumors. This study was to investigate the clinical significance of survivin in different subcellular units in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods: The protein expression of survivin was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in the specimens from 51 cases of NSCLC and 21 cases of paracancerous tissues. The relationship between survivin expression and clinical characteristics of patients was analyzed using SPSS 13.0 software.
Results: Positive expression of survivin was mainly detected in cytoplasm and / or nucleus of NSCLC tissues, and the positive rates were 49.0%(25/51), 72.5%(37/51), 3.9%(2/51), 27.5%(14/51) and 23.5%(12/51) in cytoplasm only, in cytoplasm, in nucleus only, in nucleus, and both in cytoplasm and nucleus, respectively. The positive expression rate of survivin was significantly higher in NSCLC tissues (76.5%, 39/51) than in paracancerous tissues (19.0%, 4/21) (P=0.000). The expression of survivin in cytoplasm was correlated with differentiation of tumors (P=0.007). Positive staining of survivin in nucleus, both in cytoplasm and nucleus were significantly related to clinical stage and N stage of NSCLC (P<0.05). The positive rate of survivin was higher in III+IV or N1+N2 stage patients than in I+II or N0 stage patients, respectively (P<0.05). The five-year survival rate was lower in patients with positive expression of survivin in nucleus than in those with negative expression in nucleus(P<0.05). The clinical stage and status of recurrence or metastasis were two independent prognostic factors for the survival of NSCLC patients.
Conclusions: Expression of survivin might be related to the origin and development of NSCLC. The positive expression of survivin in nucleus might be associated with invasion, progression and poor prognosis of NSCLC.