Expression of Survivin in Breast Cancer Tissue and Its Relationship with Clinical Factors

Objective To investigate the expression of survivin in breast cancer,and the correlation to the clinical characteristics, prognosis, and the tumor bio-markers. Methods The expression of surviving,c-erbB-2 and ER in the cancer tissue and tumor nests adjacent tissue was investigated by immunohistochemistry in 44 cases of breast cancer without the history of radiotherapy or chemotherapy, and only surviving for normal mammary gland tissue. Results The positive rate of survivin expression 55.6%, 4.5%and 0 in the cancer tissues, tumor nests adjacent tissues and normal mammary gland tissue. There was significantly difference among the three groups. The expression of survivin was positively correlated with c-erbB-2 and negatively with ER and 3-year overall survival rate. The survival time of negative expression of survivin was longer than that of positive expression of survivin (P0.05). Conclusions There is a high expression level of survivin in breast cancer, it may play an important role in genesis and development of breast cancer. The positive expression of survivin relates with poor prognosis and can be used to evaluate the prognosis as a potential index. The survivin should be considered together with c-erbB-2 and ER for enhancing the accuracy of prognostic evaluation in breast cancer.