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Nuclear survivin expression predicts poorer prognosis in glioblastoma

  • Clinical study - patient study
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Abstract

Survivin is a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis family, and is expressed in various malignant tumors. Survivin overexpression has been reported to be a poorer prognostic factor in various malignancies. However, the prognostic value of survivin expression in patients with glioblastoma is still controversial. Therefore, in this study the role of survivin as a predictor for survival was investigated in patients with glioblastoma. Tissue specimens were obtained from 66 patients with glioblastoma treated with radiotherapy. Survivin expression was detected by an immunohistochemical method. Nuclear and cytoplasm survivin scores were defined by using the cell positivity and staining intensity. The scores were defined as follows, 0 (no staining), 1 (less than 50% of cell positivity and any staining), 2 (more than 50% of cell positivity and weak to moderate intensity) and 3 (more than 50% of cell positivity and strong intensity). The correlation between survivin scores and the overall survival rate was evaluated. Nuclear and cytoplasm survivin staining were noted in 47 and 58 patients, respectively. The number of patients with nuclear survivin score of 0, 1, 2 and 3, were 19 (28.8%), 26 (39.4%), 9 (13.6%) and 12 (18.2%), respectively. The 3-year overall survival rate of the nuclear survivin score 3 was 0%, significantly lower than the 11.6% of the nuclear survivin score ≤2 (P = 0.0003). Cytoplasm survivin score did not correlate with the prognosis. Nuclear survivin expression may be a useful biomarker for predicting prognosis in patients with glioblastoma.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan for Young Scientists.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, 3-39-22, Showa-machi, Maebashi, Gunma, 371-8511, Japan

    Katsuyuki Shirai, Yoshiyuki Suzuki, Shin-ei Noda, Hiroyuki Katoh, Hideyuki Sakurai, Masatoshi Hasegawa & Takashi Nakano

  2. Department of Pathology, Mito Saiseikai General Hospital, Mito, Ibaraki, Japan

    Kuniyuki Oka

  3. Department of Radiology, Takasaki National Hospital, Takasaki, Gunman, Japan

    Yoshihiko Suzuki

  4. Department of Radiology, Maebashi Red Cross Hospital, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan

    Jun Itoh

  5. Department of Pathology, Maebashi Red Cross Hospital, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan

    Hideaki Itoh

  6. Department of Neurosurgery, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan

    Shogo Ishiuchi

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  1. Katsuyuki Shirai
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Correspondence to Yoshiyuki Suzuki.

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Shirai, K., Suzuki, Y., Oka, K. et al. Nuclear survivin expression predicts poorer prognosis in glioblastoma. J Neurooncol 91, 353–358 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-008-9720-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-008-9720-4

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