Expression of p16 and Survivin in gliomas and their correlation with cell proliferation

The survival rate of glioma patients is very low, and a lack of effective diagnostic techniques are available at present. The current study aimed to investigate the expression of p16 and Survivin and their association with proliferation and apoptosis in gliomas, as well as patient characteristics and prognosis. In total, 62 glioma specimens were surgically resected and pathologically confirmed at the Zhumadian Central Hospital (Zhumadian, China) between June 2008 and February 2014. Clinical data, including the gender and age of the patients, as well as the location, infiltration degree, size and pathological stage of the glioma, was collected. In order to evaluate the expression of p16 and Survivin in the gliomas, the Ki-67 labeling index was used to evaluate cell proliferation activity. The number of argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions and the rate of cellular apoptosis was examined using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling method. The results were analyzed using SPSS 14.0 statistical software. The positive rate of p16 gene expression in the gliomas was 46.77% (29 cases), and p16 gene expression was positively correlated with the differentiation status, tumor size and pre-operative symptoms. The positive rate of Survivin expression in the gliomas was 69.88% (58 cases), and Survivin expression was positively correlated with tumor size, differentiation status and clinical stage. The proliferation activity of the gliomas was enhanced with increasing p16 and Survivin expression, while apoptosis was inhibited. In conclusion, the overexpression of p16 and Survivin was closely associated with uncontrolled cell proliferation and the inhibition of apoptosis in gliomas. The combined analysis of the expression of p16 and Survivin in gliomas may provide guidance with respect to the clinical diagnosis, evaluation, treatment and prognosis of patients with glioma.