Objective: Survivin is a member of the inhibitors of apoptosis protein (IAP) family. Recent researches had shown that survivin plays an important role in oncogenesis. This study was designed to investigate the expression of survivin in transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of urinary bladder and its clinical significance.
Methods: Immunohistochemical assay was used to detect the expression of survivin in 75 cases of tumor tissue and 7 cases of normal bladder tissue.
Results: The expression rates of survivin were 77.3% (58/75) in TCC of urinary bladder, whereas no expression of survivin was detected in the 7 cases of normal bladder tissue.
Conclusions: Expression of survivin protein was observed in the tumor tissue derived from the patients with bladder TCC, indicating that this protein may play an important rule in carcinogenesis of human urinary bladder. The expression of survivin was statistically significant associated with tumor grade. Our results suggested that the expression of survivin may be considered as a prognostic factor for bladder TCC.