title: Cytoplasmic expression of survivin is an independent predictor of poor prognosis in patients with salivary gland cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The expression of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein survivin has been shown to be a significant prognostic indicator in various human cancers. The aim was to assess its expression and prognostic value in salivary gland adenocarcinoma and muco-epidermoid carcinoma.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Survivin expression was analysed in 48 patients with parotid gland cancer (21 muco-epidermoid, 27 adenocarcinomas) by means of immunohistochemistry. The experimental findings were correlated with clinicopathological and survival parameters. A high cytoplasmic expression of survivin was found in 30% of the examined tumours without any significant correlation with the patients' clinicopathological characteristics (P > 0.05). Within all patients, the estimated overall survival rate of muco-epidermoid carcinomas was significantly better than that of adenocarcinomas (P = 0.013). A high cytoplasmic survivin expression significantly indicated a poor 5-year disease-free survival rate compared to patients with a low cytoplasmic survivin expression in the whole group (P = 0.001) and in adenocarcinomas (P = 0.004). In a multivariate analysis, a high cytoplasmic survivin expression was the only independent prognostic indicator for a significantly poorer 5-year disease-free survival rate (P = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The correlation between cytoplasmic survivin expression and survival in salivary gland malignancies might make this an effective tool in patient follow-up, prognosis and targeted therapy in future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. markus.stenner@uk-koeln.de
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stenner
authors.forename: Antje
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weinell
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ponert
authors.forename: Aline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hardt
authors.forename: Moritz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.forename: Simon F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Preuss
authors.forename: Orlando
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Guntinas-Lichius
authors.forename: Jens Peter
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Klussmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D008297:Male; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012468:Salivary Gland Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D015996:Survival Rate; D000077022:Survivin
chemical_list: C107489:BIRC5 protein, human; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D000077022:Survivin