Review
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World J Clin Oncol. Mar 10, 2011; 2(3): 164-168
Published online Mar 10, 2011. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v2.i3.164
Survivin and pancreatic cancer
Bin-Bin Liu, Wei-Hong Wang
Bin-Bin Liu, Wei-Hong Wang, Department of Gastroenterology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing 100034, China
Author contributions: Liu BB and Wang WH contributed equally to this paper.
Correspondence to: Wei-Hong Wang, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing 100034, China. wangweihong@medmail.com.cn
Telephone: +86-10-83572616  Fax: +86-10-66518105
Received: September 27, 2010
Revised: December 3, 2010
Accepted: December 10, 2010
Published online: March 10, 2011
Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is estimated to be the fourth most common cancer in men and fifth in women in the world and has poor prognosis. In recent years, more and more effort has been put on the relationship between pancreatic cancer and apoptosis. As a newly discovered inhibitor of apoptosis, survivin has drawn more attention. Strong evidence has shown that survivin is expressed in pancreatic cancer cells on frozen sections. Survivin increases in the development of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and its expression can be a marker in evaluating the prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients. Survivin itself may be a new target in the treatment of pancreatic cancer and a survivin DNA vaccine could generate specific antitumor effects in pancreatic carcinoma models.

Keywords: Survivin; Pancreatic cancer; Tumor suppression