Survivin, a potential early predictor of tumor progression in the oral mucosa.
Survivin is a recently described apoptosis inhibitor selectively over-expressed in most tumors. Immunohistochemistry was used to investigate a potential role of survivin as an early predictor of malignant transformation in precancerous and cancerous lesions of the oral cavity. Survivin was present in 10/30 cases (33%) of oral precancerous lesions without malignant progression, and in 15/16 cases (94%) of oral precancerous lesions evolved into full-blown squamous cell carcinoma. Tumors that progressed from these precancerous lesions retained widespread survivin positivity (100%). Variations among group means were highly statistically significant (p < 0.001). No significant correlation was found between survivin expression and the degree of dysplasia. High expression of cytoplasmic/nuclear survivin is an early event during oral carcinogenesis and may provide a useful tool for the identification of precancerous lesions at higher risk of progression into invasive carcinoma.
Institute of Dental Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ancona, Ancona, Italy. lomuziol@tin.it
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Leonardi
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Kudo
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D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D008297:Male; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000378:metabolism*; D000077022:Survivin
D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; C107489:BIRC5 protein, human; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D000077022:Survivin