title: Evaluation of survivin expression and its prognostic value in papillary thyroid carcinoma.
abstract: Overexpression of survivin, an inhibitor of apoptosis protein, has been found in a variety of human cancers, and is associated with tumor aggressiveness. In this study, we analyzed the expression of survivin in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and evaluated its clinical significance for predicting an aggressive course of disease at the time of diagnosis. Survivin expression was determined by immunohistochemistry in 104 tissue specimens of PTC, confirmed by Western blot and correlated with clinicopathological parameters. Of the tumors examined, 74 (71.15%) showed high cytoplasmic survivin expression. There was no association between high survivin expression and age, gender or tumor size. On the other hand, it was closely correlated with the presence of lymph node metastasis (P=0.009), and there was a tendency for correlation with extrathyroidal invasion (P=0.062). The high risk PTC group (TNM stage III-IV) was associated with high levels of survivin (P=0.027). These results indicate that survivin is an unfavorable molecule for PTC prognosis, and that its high expression may indicate a subset of PTC patients with a more aggressive disease course. Evaluation of its expression in fine needle aspiration samples could be a useful tool for the identification of those PTC patients who require more extensive surgery, careful follow-up and therapeutic strategy.
authors.affiliation: Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy - INEP, University of Belgrade, 11080 Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Selemetjev
authors.affiliation: Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy - INEP, University of Belgrade, 11080 Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Tijana Isic
authors.initials: TI
authors.lastname: Dencic
authors.affiliation: Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy - INEP, University of Belgrade, 11080 Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Ilona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Marecko
authors.affiliation: Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy - INEP, University of Belgrade, 11080 Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Jelena
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jankovic
authors.affiliation: Centre for Endocrine Surgery, Clinic for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Diseases of Metabolism, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Paunovic
authors.affiliation: Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy - INEP, University of Belgrade, 11080 Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Svetlana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Savin
authors.affiliation: Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy - INEP, University of Belgrade, 11080 Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: dubravka@inep.co.rs.
authors.forename: Dubravka
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cvejic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D000077022:Survivin; D000077273:Thyroid Cancer, Papillary; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C107489:BIRC5 protein, human; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D000077022:Survivin
keywords: Lymph node metastasis; Papillary thyroid carcinoma; Prognosis; Survivin; Tumor stage