[Clinical significance of survivin and caspase-3 expression in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma]

To investigate the expression of survivin and caspase-3, and its correlation with prognosis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

From 1997 to 2000, 94 DLBCL patients were studied on the expression of survivin and caspase-3 detected by immunohistochemical stain. The relationship between the expression of surviving and caspase-3 and prognosis were analyzed by SPSS 10.0.

The positive expression rate of survivin and caspase-3 was 68.1% and 76.6%, respectively. The expression of survivin and caspase-3 were significantly correlated with the "international prognostic index" (IPI) (P < 0.05). Patients with positive expression of survivin and caspase-3 were found to have higer replase risk, and patients with positive survivin expression had poorer overall 5-year survival than those with negative expression (31.3% vs 64.0%, P < 0.05). Positive survivin expression was found to be an independent poor prognostic index for DLBCL by Cox regression model.

Survivin and caspase-3 are useful in therapeutic and prognostic assessment. Poor prognostic patients can be screened out in the early treatment period using expression of survivin and caspase-3 combined with IPI, which may help to improve the outcome of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.