Expression of livin and survivin and its correlation with caspase-3 and clinicopathology in breast cancer / 西安交通大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the expression of livin and survivin and its correlation with caspase-3 and clinicopathology in breast cancer. Methods We examined paraffin-embedded archival specimens from 76 cases of malignant breast tumor and 17 cases of benign breast disease for the expression of livin,survivin and caspase-3 with immunohistochemistry. The relationship of livin and survivin expression with caspase-3 and clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed. Results The positive rates of livin and survivin protein expression were increased gradually in normal breast tissues,livin and survivin proliferating disease,preinvasive carcinoma and invasive breast carcinoma,while the caspase-3 protein expression was significantly decreased. The expression of livin and survivin was negatively correlated with that of caspase-3 in the four groups (P0.05). The expression of survivin was related to lymph node metastasis and tumor size (P0.05). Conclusion Livin and survivin may play an important role in accelerated tumor proliferation by inducing caspase-3 to inhibit apoptosis in breast carcinoma. Livin may be more correlated with carcinogenesis in young patients while survivin may promote metastasis and invasion in breast carcinoma.