Background & objective: Recent research had shown that survivin, a new member of the inhibitors of apoptosis proteins (IAP) family, which also plays an important role in mitosis and cell apoptosis, and selectively overexpressed in common human cancers. This study was designed to examine the expression of survivin and its correlation with expression of Fas and FasL in ovarian epithelial carcinoma.
Methods: Immunohistochemical assay (SP method) was used to detect the expression of survivin, Fas and FasL genes in 84 ovarian cancer tissues, 39 benign tumors of ovary, and 20 normal ovary tissues.
Results: The level of expression of survivin was higher in the patients with ovarian cancer (63.1%) than that in the patients with benign tumor of ovary (30.8%) and normal ovary tissues (0.0%)(P< 0.01). The expression level of survivin was strongly correlated with clinical stage and poor differentiation. The expression of Fas in ovarian cancer (23.8%) was significantly lower than that of ovarian benign tumor (53.8%) (P< 0.01). The expression rate of FasL was significantly higher in ovarian cancer (44.0%) than that in ovarian benign tumor (23.1%)(P< 0.05). Positive survivin expression was strongly correlated with Fas and FasL expression.
Conclusion: (1) High expression of survivin may plays an important role in the development of ovarian cancer and could be a useful prognostic maker for patients with ovarian cancer.(2) The abnormal expression of Fas and FasL in ovary cancer and their correlation with survivin suggested that survivin might be in cooperation with Fas and FasL,which involved in the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer.