title: Survivin expression and its clinical significance in pancreatic cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Survivin, an inhibitor of apoptosis is expressed in several human cancers. Its expression is known to be associated with poor clinical outcome, but not widely studied in pancreatic cancer. We performed this study to determine the survivin expression in pancreatic cancer and its clinical significance as a prognostic factor.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed immunohistochemical staining for survivin, p53, and Bax in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded block from forty-nine pancreatic tissues. To determine the association with clinical course, we reviewed the patients' clinical record.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 49 cases of pancreatic cancer, 46 cases (93.9%) were positive for survivin expression. There was no significant association between survivin expression and p53 or bax. For clinicopathological parameters, perineural invasion was more common in survivin positive and venous invasion was more common in survivin negative (p = 0.041 and 0.040, respectively). Responsiveness to chemotherapy appeared to be slightly better in patients with low survivin expression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Survivin expression may be associated with venous or perineural invasion, indicating metastatic route, and seems to have a potential as a predictive marker for chemotherapy. Further study of large scale is required to determine the clinical significance of survivin expression in pancreatic cancer.
authors.affiliation: Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Catholic University of Medical College, Seoul, Korea. angelamd@catholic.ac.kr
authors.forename: Myung Ah
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Gyeong-sin
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Hee-Jung
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ji-Han
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Jin-Hyoung
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Young Seon
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Kyung Shik
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Dong-gu
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seung-Nam
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017209:Apoptosis; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D008297:Male; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009154:Mutation; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism*; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D000077022:Survivin; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: C107489:BIRC5 protein, human; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D000077022:Survivin; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein