ABSTRACT
This study was aimed to explore clinical significance of Livin mRNA and protein expressions in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The immunohistochemistry was used to determine the expression of Livin protein in lymph nodes of 30 patients with NHL and 11 patients with reactive hyperplasia of lymph node. The real-time PCR was performed to detect the expression levels of Livin mRNA in 20 patients with NHL, 10 patients with reactive hyperplasia of lymph node and 4 normal person lymph nodes. The correlation of Livin mRNA and protein expressions with NHL clinical features were analyzed. The results showed that the expression of Livin mRNA was statistically higher in NHL samples than in normal lymph nodes and reactive hyperplastic lymph nodes (12.4 vs 0.34, 12.4 vs 0.61, median) (p<0.05), while there was no statistical difference between normal and reactive hyperplastic lymph nodes (p>0.05). Livin protein expression was exhibited to be positive in 16 of 30 cases of NHL with a positive rate of 53.3% and only 1 in reactive hyperplastic lymph nodes with a positive rate of 9.1%. In addition, Livin protein almost appeared in the cytoplasm of cells, seldom in nucleus. The expressions of both Livin mRNA and protein were positively correlated with clinical stages of NHL (p=0.023; p=0.009), B symptoms (p=0.015; p=0.026), blood beta2-microglobulin (beta2-MG, p=0.031; p=0.012) and the serum level of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH, p=0.037; p=0.007), but the expressions of Livin mRNA and protein had no significant correlation with age, sex and typing. It is concluded that the Livin mRNA and protein highly express in NHL patients and correlate with many clinical features, such as stage of NHL, B symptom, beta2-MG and LDH, therefore, the Livin may play a role in the prognosis of NHL patients. The further study on inhibitory effect of Livin expression will promote the illustration of NHL pathogenesis and contribute to the treatment and prognosis of NHL.