This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Save to my personal folders Download to citation manager Rights & Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gradilone, A. Articles by Aglianò, A. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Gradilone, A. Articles by Aglianò, A. M. Related Articles Related Correspondence Social Bookmarking                            What's this?

Survivin, bcl-2, bax, and bcl-X Gene Expression in Sentinel Lymph Nodes From Melanoma Patients

Angela Gradilone, Paola Gazzaniga, Diego Ribuffo, Susanna Scarpa, Emanuele Cigna, Fortunata Vasaturo, Ugo Bottoni, Daniele Innocenzi, Stefano Calvieri, Nicolo’ Scuderi, Luigi Frati, Anna Maria Aglianò

From the Department of Experimental Medicine and Pathology, and Division of Plastic Surgery, Institute of Dermatology, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy.

Address reprint requests to Anna Maria Aglianò, PhD, Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Patologia, Viale Regina Elena, 324-00161, Rome, Italy; email: annamaria.agliano{at}uniroma1.it.

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.

Supported in part by Ministero Università e Ricera Scientifica e Tecnologica and Associazione Italiana Ricerca sul Cancro.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related Correspondence

• Survivin Expression in Sentinel Lymph Nodes From Melanoma Patients
  Maria González Cao, Susana Puig, and Begoña Mellado
  JCO 2004 22: 2751-2752 [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. Raj, T. Liu, G. Samadashwily, F. Li, and D. Grossman Survivin repression by p53, Rb and E2F2 in normal human melanocytes Carcinogenesis, January 1, 2008; 29(1): 194 - 201. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Thomas, T. Liu, M. A. Cotter, S. R. Florell, K. Robinette, A. N. Hanks, and D. Grossman Melanocyte Expression of Survivin Promotes Development and Metastasis of UV-Induced Melanoma in HGF-Transgenic Mice Cancer Res., June 1, 2007; 67(11): 5172 - 5178. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Chin, L. A. Garraway, and D. E. Fisher Malignant melanoma: genetics and therapeutics in the genomic era. Genes & Dev., August 15, 2006; 20(16): 2149 - 2182. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. K. Sra, M. Babb-Tarbox, S. Aboutalebi, P. Rady, G. L. Shipley, D. D. Dao, and S. K. Tyring Molecular Diagnosis of Cutaneous Diseases Arch Dermatol, February 1, 2005; 141(2): 225 - 241. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Gonzalez Cao, S. Puig, and B. Mellado Survivin Expression in Sentinel Lymph Nodes From Melanoma Patients J. Clin. Oncol., July 1, 2004; 22(13): 2751 - 2752. [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Gradilone, P. Gazzaniga, D. Ribuffo, S. Scarpa, E. Cigna, F. Vasaturo, U. Bottoni, D. Innocenzi, S. Calvieri, N. Scuderi, et al. In Reply: J. Clin. Oncol., July 1, 2004; 22(13): 2752 - 2752. [Full Text] [PDF]