Nuclear Survivin expression is correlated with malignant behaviors of head and neck cancer together with Aurora-B

Qi, Guangying; Kudo, Yasusei; Ando, Toshinori; Tsunematsu, Takaaki; Shimizu, Natsumi; Siriwardena, Samadarani B.S.M.; Yoshida, Maki; Keikhaee, Mohammad Reza; Ogawa, Ikuko; Takata, Takashi

doi:10.1016/j.oraloncology.2010.01.004

« Previous Next »Oral Oncology
Volume 46, Issue 4 , Pages 263-270, April 2010

Nuclear Survivin expression is correlated with malignant behaviors of head and neck cancer together with Aurora-B

Guangying Qi
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathobiology, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan
Yasusei Kudo
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathobiology, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan
- Correspondence authors. Tel.: +81 82 257 5634; fax: +81 82 257 5619 (Y. Kudo).
Toshinori Ando
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathobiology, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan
Takaaki Tsunematsu
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathobiology, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan
Natsumi Shimizu
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathobiology, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan
Samadarani B.S.M. Siriwardena
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathobiology, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan
Maki Yoshida
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathobiology, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan
Mohammad Reza Keikhaee
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathobiology, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan
Ikuko Ogawa
- Center of Oral Clinical Examination, Hiroshima University Hospital, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan
Takashi Takata
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathobiology, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan
- Correspondence authors. Tel.: +81 82 257 5634; fax: +81 82 257 5619 (Y. Kudo).

Received 8 December 2009; received in revised form 23 December 2009; accepted 4 January 2010. published online 08 February 2010.

Summary

Survivin belongs to the inhibitors of apoptosis (IAP) gene family and inhibits apoptosis. Besides its role as IAP, Survivin recently appears to function as a subunit of the chromosomal passenger complex (CPC) for regulating cell division with other CPC proteins including Aurora-B and INCENP. Nuclear Survivin is suspected to control cell division, whereas cytoplasmic Survivin is considered cytoprotective. Although there are several studies on Survivin expression and its function as inhibition of apoptosis, there is no study on Survivin function as a CPC and its correlation with other CPC proteins in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Here, therefore, we examined nuclear Survivin expression and its functional correlation with Aurora-B in HNSCC. High expression of Survivin was well correlated with Aurora-B expression in nuclear fraction of HNSCC cell lines and tissues. Moreover, nuclear Survivin expression was significantly correlated with Ki-67 and Aurora-B expression by immunohistochemistry. Notably, HNSCC cases with nuclear Survivin and Aurora-B expression exhibited marked malignant behaviors. Interestingly, both Survivin and Aurora-B knockdown inhibited cell growth and tumorsphere formation. Overall suggest that nuclear Survivin may be involved in tumor progression together with Aurora-B, and that Survivin and Aurora-B can be useful diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets.

Keywords: Survivin, Aurora-B, Chromosomal passenger complex, Head and neck cancer