| Sumario: | BACKGROUND: Survivin is a novel antiapoptotic gene, which is a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family. Recently, 3 splice variants of this gene were cloned and characterized. This study aimed to validate a sensitive and specific method for the detection of survivin variants in breast cancer. METHODS: Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was performed on the cDNA with a reverse primer specific for each splice variant and a pair of common hybridization probes. RESULTS: The expression of wild-type survivin was significantly correlated with survivin-2b, survivin-[Delta]Ex3, and the ratio of survivin-[Delta]Ex3 to wild-type survivin (P < .001). The ratio of survivin-2b to wild-type survivin was strongly associated with the ratio of survivin-[Delta]Ex3 to wild-type survivin (P < .001). There was a strong positive association between the grade of the tumor and survivin-2b mRNA, survivin-[Delta]Ex3 mRNA, and the ratio of survivin-[Delta]Ex3 to wild-type survivin mRNA (P < .05). The ratio of survivin-2b to wild-type survivin was significantly associated with the presence of estrogen receptors (P = .05). CONCLUSION: Our validated data suggest that survivin isoforms may be related to clinicopathological features and could be used as molecular prognostic tools or as new therapy targets.
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