Survivin expression in pituitary adenomas.
Survivin has received great attention due to its expression in many human tumours and its potential as a therapeutic target in cancer. Its expression is developmentally regulated: present during fetal development, it is undetectable in terminally differentiated normal adult tissue. Survivin expression has been described to be cell cycle-dependent and restricted to the G2-M checkpoint, where it inhibits apoptosis in proliferating cells.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of our study was to determine the survivin expression in different types of pituitary adenomas.


METHODS
Tissue samples were obtained during surgical removal of the tumour from 12 patients with diagnosed: acromegaly in seven cases, non-functioning pituitary tumours in four cases and prolactinoma in one case. Six patients with acromegaly received long-acting somatostatin analogues before tumour resection. After RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, the amplification of specific survivin's gene fragment was performed.


RESULTS
In agreement with the current view that survivin is a tumor-associated antigen, highly expressed in various tumours, we found the presence of survivin expression as a characteristic feature of human pituitary adenomas. The findings of our study demonstrated the presence of an active survivin gene in all twelve analysed pituitary tumours.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on these findings, we conclude that the estimation of survivin expression in human pituitary tumours may help predict tumour growth and prognosis.
University of Medical Sciences in Ponzan, Department of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Internal Diseases, Poland. rwasko@amp.edu.pl
Ryszard
R
Wasko
Anna
A
Jankowska
Joanna
J
Waligorska-Stachura
Miroslaw
M
Andrusiewicz
Magdalena
M
Jaskula
Jerzy
J
Sowinski
D000172:Acromegaly / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology; D000236:Adenoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D008297:Male; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D015175:Prolactinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D000077022:Survivin
C107489:BIRC5 protein, human; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D000077022:Survivin