Survivin expression and impact on head and neck cancer outcomes.

Oral Oncology
Saad A KhanBarbara Burtness

Abstract

Survivin is an inhibitor of apoptosis that is proposed as a target for anti-cancer therapy because of its high expression in cancer cells. It has potential as a prognostic and predictive biomarker of response to radiation and systemic therapies. We report its expression in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and its correlation with treatment response and survival. We measured survivin protein expression in tumor specimens from 96 patients with HNSCC treated at Fox Chase Cancer Center, of whom 21 were p16+. Quantitative automated immunofluorescence was employed to score nuclear and cytoplasmic survivin in 5 tissue microarrays (TMAs) consisting of 316 H&N tumor cores and 107 control tissue cores. Survivin levels were then correlated to therapy response and survival outcomes. Using the median score as the cutoff, overall survival (OS) was significantly shorter for the group expressing higher survivin in nuclear (p = 0.013), cytoplasmic (p = 0.018) and total compartments (p = 0.006). No correlation was seen between survivin expression and patient sex or grade of tumor, T or N stage, or p16 status. Survivin expression in metastases did not significantly differ from that in primary tumors. Levels of p53 expression showed a...Continue Reading

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Apoptosis in Cancer

Apoptosis is an important mechanism in cancer. By evading apoptosis, tumors can continue to grow without regulation and metastasize systemically. Many therapies are evaluating the use of pro-apoptotic activation to eliminate cancer growth. Here is the latest research on apoptosis in cancer.

Apoptosis

Apoptosis is a specific process that leads to programmed cell death through the activation of an evolutionary conserved intracellular pathway leading to pathognomic cellular changes distinct from cellular necrosis

Related Papers

Cancer Biology & Therapy
Leisha A Emens
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology
Michiko ShintaniShingo Kamoshida
British Journal of Cancer
L Lo MuzioD C Altieri
© 2021 Meta ULC. All rights reserved