Differential Expression of Survivin in Mammary Gland Diseases

Objective : Unlike other inhibitors of apoptosis proteins (IAP), survivin is expressed during fetal development, cannot be detected in normal adult tissues, and is re-expressed in most of the common human cancers. However, the clinicopathological significance of the expression of survivin in human breast carcinoma has not been fully elucidated. Therefore, we examined the accumulation of survivin in pathological specimens of mammary gland diseases to identify new protein markers that may lead to improvements in patient management. Methods : We investigated the expression of survivin using immunohistochemistry in 180 cases of breast disease accessioned in the Department of Pathology, International University of Health and Welfare Hospital and Nissan Tamagawa Hospital between 2003 and 2013. Results : Ninety-eight out of 141 malignant tumor cases (69.5%) stained positive for survivin, with no significant staining being detected in the remaining cases. Staining for survivin was completely absent in the epithelial cells of 34 of 39 cases of benign disease. No correlation was observed between the expression of survivin and major prognostic factors in breast carcinomas including patient age, tumor size, histological grade, axillary lymph node metastasis, local recurrence, and visceral metastasis status. However, a significant difference was observed in the expression of survivin between malignant and benign tumors and other benign diseases. Conclusion : The results of the present study suggest that the expression of survivin is strongly selective for cancer cells and may be useful for identifying and quantifying human breast cancer.