4 research outputs found
Survivin, bcl-2, bax, and bcl-X gene expression in sentinel lymph nodes from melanoma patients
Purpose: The expression of apoptosis-related genes,
such as survivin, bcl-2, bcl-X, and bax, has been evaluated
by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)
and by immunohistochemistry in sentinel lymph nodes
(SLNs) from melanoma patients and then correlated to the
outcome of patients.
Patients and Methods: Thirty-six SLNs were examined.
After RNA extraction, an RT-PCR followed by Southern blot
hybridization was performed to detect survivin, bcl-2, bcl-X,
and bax mRNA. bcl-2, survivin, and bax gene expression
was evaluated, whenever possible, also by immunohistochemistry
at the protein level.
Results: We found a significant correlation (P < .005)
between survivin expression and outcome of patients; in
fact, 61.5% of patients expressing survivin gene progressed
or died because of the disease, whereas 38.5% are currently
disease-free. Among patients negative for survivin
expression, 100% are disease-free after a median follow-
up time of 52.9 months. We did not find a significant
correlation between bcl-2, bax, and bcl-X gene expression
and outcome of patients. In fact, these genes were found
equally expressed in patients with disease progression and
in disease-free patients.
Conclusion: Our findings show a variable expression of
apoptosis-related genes in SLNs of melanoma patients; more
interestingly, we found that survivin expression correlates to
outcome of patients in a statistically significant way, whereas
the expression of other genes, such as bcl-2, bax, and bcl-X,
did not seem to correlate to progression of disease. We suggest
that the detection of survivin gene expression by RT-PCR
in SLNs may be a useful prognostic indicator