Expression of survivin in invasive pituitary adenoma

To investigate the relationship between survivin expression and invasiveness of pituitary adenoma.

A total of 66 patients, on whom trans sphenoidal surgery had been performed between July 2006 and March 2008, were enrolled in our study at the Department of Neurosurgery in Shandong Provincial Hospital and Jinan Central Hospital, Shandong, P. R. China. All patients were divided into the invasion group (n=39), and the non-invasion group (n=27) by assessment of preoperative MRI and intraoperative inspection. Survivin expression was determined by immunohistochemistry. Statistical analysis of survivin expression between the 2 sample groups was accomplished using the chi-square test.

Survivin was expressed in 46 (69.7%) of the investigated pituitary adenomas. For invasive pituitary adenoma, survivin staining was positive in 35 (89.7%), only 11 (40.7%) specimens were positive in noninvasive tumors. The chi-square test demonstrated a statistically significant difference in survivin expression between invasive and noninvasive pituitary adenoma (chi2=14.309, p=0.0002).

Survivin was highly associated with invasive pituitary adenoma, it is likely to serve as a useful tool for confirmation of invasive pituitary adenoma and the gene could be an effective target for pituitary adenoma gene therapy.