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Study of survivin gene expression in hepatocellular carcinoma patients

Objective The aim of this study was to assess the differential expression of survivin gene in tumorous versus nontumorous liver tissue of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients and determine the possible influence of survivin gene polymorphism −31G/C and +9809T/C on its expression and its association with the risk for HCC in Egyptian patients. Background Mechanisms of hepatic carcinogenesis are not completely understood, but HCC development and progression could be attributed to accumulated genetic alterations as other malignancies. Survivin has functional involvement in apoptosis and proliferation, and is upregulated in malignancy. It attracts considerable interest as a potential diagnostic, prognostic tumor marker and a new target for cancer treatment. Patients and methods This study was performed on 30 HCC patients and 30 unrelated apparently healthy individuals who served as a control group. Genotyping of survivin gene at −31G/C and +9809T/C was performed for HCC cases and controls using TaqMan allelic discrimination Assay. Real-time PCR was performed for survivin mRNA in paired tumorous and nontumorous liver tissue specimens of the HCC patients. Results No significant difference was found between HCC patients and controls as regards different genotypes and alleles of survivin −31G/C and +9809T/C polymorphism. Moreover, none of these genotypes and alleles was associated with risk for HCC. Survivin mRNA was expressed in all tumorous and nontumorous tissue specimens in HCC cases and its expression was significantly higher in tumorous tissues compared with nontumorous tissues by 13 folds. Survivin expression in tumorous tissue was significantly increased with high α-fetoprotein, larger size of the tumor, vascular invasion, absence of cirrhosis, recurrence within 1 year, and low survival rate. The advanced stage of the tumor was the independent variable for survivin expression (P < 0.05). Conclusion Genetic variations of survivin gene had no effect on the susceptibility to HCC in Egyptian patients. Survivin was significantly overexpressed in HCC cases with advanced tumor stage.