Expression of Caspase-9 and Survivin in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and its clinical significance

Objective To investigate the expression of Caspase- 9 and Survivin in hepatocellular carcinoma ( HCC) tissues and its clinical significance. Methods The immunohistochemical SP method was used to measure the expression of Caspase- 9 and Survivin in the HCC tissues and paracancerous normal liver tissues of 92 HCC patients, and the relationship between their expression and the clinical malignant biological behavior of HCC was analyzed. Results Compared with paracancerous normal liver tissues, the HCC tissues had significantly lower expression of Caspase- 9 ( χ2= 6. 48, P < 0. 05) and significantly higher expression of Survivin ( χ2= 7. 05, P < 0. 05) . The positive rate of Survivin in HCC tissues was significantly higher in patients with TNM stage III- IV disease, with portal vein tumor thrombus ( PVTT) , and with lymph node metastasis ( LNM) than in those with TNM stage I- II disease, without PVTT, and without LNM ( χ2= 5. 07, P < 0. 05; χ2= 6. 18, P < 0. 05; χ2= 8. 29, P < 0. 05) , but no significant differences were found between other group pairs. The positive rate of Caspase- 9 in HCC tissues was significantly lower in patients with pathological stage III- IV disease than in those with pathological stage I- II disease ( χ2= 7. 63, P < 0. 05) , but no significant differences were found between other group pairs. Conclusion Low expression of Caspase- 9 and abnormally high expression of Survivin were both involved in the development of HCC. Low expression of Caspase- 9 may be closely associated with the malignant differentiation of HCC cells, and high expression of Survivin is closely associated with the malignant progression, such as invasion and distant metastasis, of HCC.