BACKGROUNDTo investigate the expression of survivin and its relation with apoptosis in non-small cell lung cancer.

METHODSSurvivin expression was examined in sixty paraffin-embedded NSCLC samples and 16 benign pulmonary disease tissues by immunohistochemistry methods.Apoptosis of NSCLC cells was detected by TUNEL technique.

RESULTSSurvivin was expressed in 38 of 60 (63.3%) NSCLC tissues.In contrast, benign pulmonary disease tissues did not express survivin. The expression of survivin protein was closely related to TNM stages (P < 0.05), lymph node involvement (P < 0.05) and cell differentiation (P < 0.01), but not to histological classification, gender and ages (P > 0.05). A correlation coefficient test showed a negative correlation between the AI and survivin expression (r=-0.231,P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSApoptosis inhibition caused by abnormal survivin expression may participate in the oncogenesis and progression of NSCLC. The over-expression of survivin suggest the bad prognosis in NSCLC. Survivin gene may be indentified as a potential therapeutic target in NSCLC.