Prognostic significance of survivin expression in patients with locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma treated with postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy
Abstract
Background and aim: Survivin is a multifunctional protein that inhibits apoptosis, and plays a central role in cell division. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy induce apoptosis in cancer cells.
In a study on colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines was observed an inverse correlation between the expression of survivin and spontaneous and radiotherapy-induced apoptosis. The aim of this study was to determine the pretreatment expression of survivin in patients treated with postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy for locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma and evaluate its prognostic significance.
Patients and methods: In total 59 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer were studied retrospectively. Results: Five-year overall survival (OS) according to survivin expression: survivin = 0 (negative) = 56% five-year overall survival, survivin > 0 (positive) = 55%, logrank: p = 0.26; HR = 0.69.
Five-year survival (PFS) according to survivin expression: survivin = 0 (negative) = 46% five-year survival (PFS) survivin > 0 (positive) = 52%, logrank: p = 0.74; HR = 0.89. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate survivin expression in locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma.
This study did not show predictive or prognostic significance of survivin expression, which may be due to the limited number of patients.