Survivin – prognostic tumor biomarker in human neoplasms – review

Abstract

Accurate diagnosis and proper monitoring of cancer patients remain important obstacles for successful cancer treatment. The search for cancer biomarkers is carried out in order to quickly identify tumor cells and predict treatment response, ultimately leading to a favorable therapeutic outcome. One such prognostic marker seems to be survivin. Many studies have shown that survivin is strongly expressed in a vast majority of cancers. Its overexpression was demonstrated in breast and lung cancer, prostate, gastric, colon, bladder, and esophageal carcinomas, osteosarcomas, and lymphomas. In many of those tumors, high activity of the survivin gene was associated with a poor prognosis and worse survival rates. Moreover, survivin expression was correlated with resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy-induced apoptosis. Since survivin may be identified as an independent prognostic factor and inhibitor of apoptosis, it may prove to be a useful therapeutic target in cancer therapy.