title: The role of survivin in thyroid tumors: differences of expression in well-differentiated, non-well-differentiated, and anaplastic thyroid cancers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Survivin is involved in human cancer and is responsible for aggressive biological behavior and poor clinical outcomes in several human malignancies. Thus, we hypothesized that the upregulation of survivin protein expression may be enhanced in parallel with transition toward a poorly differentiated phenotype in human thyroid carcinomas.
  
  
  METHODS
  The expression of survivin was evaluated, using a standard linked streptavidin-biotin horseradish peroxidase technique technique, in a series of 56 human thyroid carcinomas (42 papillary, 4 poorly differentiated, and 10 anaplastic carcinomas) and thyroid carcinoma cell lines at different degrees of differentiation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cytoplasmic expression of survivin protein was significantly upregulated in all thyroid tumors. A statistically significant association was found between nuclear survivin expression and anaplastic thyroid cancer (mean ± SD: well-differentiated thyroid cancer, 1.22 ± 20.21; non-well-differentiated thyroid cancer, 34.00 ± 25.17; anaplastic thyroid cancer, 56.50 ± 22.10; p<0.001). Nuclear staining of survivin has been shown in poorly differentiated and anaplastic thyroid carcinomas, and this is likely due to the upregulation of the ΔEx3 survivin splicing variant, as shown in poorly differentiated/anaplastic thyroid carcinoma cell lines. Of note, selected thyroid tumors characterized by a mixed population of differentiated and undifferentiated neoplastic cells, likely progressing from well to poorly differentiated and anaplastic phenotypes, exhibited cytoplasmic expression of survivin in differentiated fields and nuclear protein staining in poorly differentiated and anaplastic areas. This expression profile provides substantial added value to conventional clinical markers in predicting anaplastic cancer. The cut-off for distinguishing thyroids that developed ATC from those that remained differentiated was >30% of nuclear survivin expression. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area was 0.92, with a p-value of <0.0001.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Upregulation of survivin expression may be a molecular marker of dedifferentiation in thyroid epithelial carcinomas, likely being responsible for survival responses of tumor cells and, thus, favoring progression toward a poorly differentiated phenotype.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Anatomic Pathology, University of Foggia , Foggia, Italy .
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pannone
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santoro
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pasquali
authors.forename: Rosanna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zamparese
authors.forename: Marilena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mattoni
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Landriscina
authors.forename: Annamaria
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piscazzi
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Toti
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cignarelli
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lo Muzio
authors.forename: Pantaleo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bufo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077022:Survivin; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C107489:BIRC5 protein, human; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D000077022:Survivin