[Expression and clinical significance of survivin and PTEN in adrenal tumors].
OBJECTIVE
Since the histomorphology of adrenal tumor is very special, it is difficult to assess the malignancy of the tumors. This study was to explore the expression and clinical significance of Survivin and PTEN proteins in adrenal tumors.


METHODS
The expression of Survivin and PTEN in 116 specimens of adrenal tumors, including 39 cases of cortex adenoma, 22 cases of cortex adenocarcinoma, 35 cases of pheochromocytoma, and 20 cases of malignant pheochromocytoma, were detected by LSAB immunohistochemistry.


RESULTS
The positive rate of Survivin protein was 75.0%, and that of PTEN protein was 93.1%. The expression intensity of Survivin was correlated to that of PTEN in adrenal tumors (r=-0.486, P<0.05). The expression intensity of Survivin and PTEN in adrenal tumors were not related to patient's age, sex, tumor position, and so on (P>0.05). The expression intensity of Survivin was significantly lower in adrenal cortex adenoma than in adrenal cortex adenocarcinoma (P<0.05), and was significantly lower in pheochromocytoma than in malignant pheochromocytoma (P<0.05). The expression intensity of PTEN was related to the differentiation of adrenal tumor. The expression intensity of PTEN was significantly higher in adrenal cortex adenoma than in adrenal cortex adenocarcinoma (P<0.05), and was significantly higher in pheochromocytoma than in malignant pheochromocytoma (P<0.05). The expression of Survivin protein and PTEN protein was correlated to the prognosis of adrenal cortex adenocarcinoma and malignant pheochromocytoma: the higher the expression intensity of Survivin protein and the lower the expression intensity of PTEN protein, the worse the patient's prognosis (P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The expression of Survivin and PTEN proteins are closely related to the prognosis of adrenal tumors.
Qin
Zi-Ke
ZK
State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510060, P. R. China. qinzike@263.net
Zhou
Fang-Jian
FJ
Dai
Yu-Ping
YP
Chen
Wei
W
Hou
Jing-Hui
JH
Han
Hui
H
Liu
Zhuo-Wei
ZW
Yu
Shao-Long
SL
Zhang
Ding-Zuan
DZ
Yang
Jian-An
JA
D000293:Adolescent; D000310:Adrenal Gland Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018246:Adrenocortical Adenoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018268:Adrenocortical Carcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D008297:Male; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase / Q000378:metabolism*; D010673:Pheochromocytoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D015996:Survival Rate; D000077022:Survivin; D055815:Young Adult
C107489:BIRC5 protein, human; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D000077022:Survivin; D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase; C494929:PTEN protein, human