[Expression of survivin in leukemia cells and influence on it by GM-CSF]

This study was aimed to explore the expression of survivin in leukemia cells and to investigate the effect of GM-CSF on survivin expression. The survivin expressions in 37 previously untreated leukemia patients and 10 normal persons as well as in three kinds of leukemia cell lines (K562, HL-60, U937) were analyzed by RT-PCR. The HL-60 cells were treated by the proper concentration of GM-CSF, and the changes of survivin mRNA and protein expression levels were detected by using RT-PCR and Western blot respectively. The results indicated that the positive rate of survivin gene in 37 leukemia patients was 67.6% (25/37) and significantly higher than that in normal control (20.0%). The expression level was higher in ALL cells than that in AML cells (73.3% vs 63.6%). Moreover, three kinds of leukemia cell lines all expressed survivin. After treating with the proper concentration of GM-CSF for 2 days, the expression of survivin obviously increased and the expression level of survivin mRNA was up-regulated by 26%, the expression level of survivin protein was up-regulated by 49%. It is concluded that the survivin gene extensively express in leukemia and its cell lines, and its expression can be obviously increased by GM-CSF.