An anti-apoptosis gene, survivin and telomerase expression in gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Survivin is frequently expressed in various malignancies as an inhibitor of programmed cell death, while telomerase is associated with cell immortality and consequent accumulation of a malignant genetic property. We surmised that an activation of telomerase in combination with an inhibition of apoptosis might further accelerate growth of malignant tumors. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the expression of survivin and telomerase in stomach cancer. METHODOLOGY: Twenty-five consecutive patients who underwent gastrectomy for stomach cancer were studied including 13 patients at stage 4, 7 of whom had peritoneal metastasis. The expression of survivin and telomerase in the tumors were studied by a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Survivin mRNA was detected in 16 (64%) out of 25 tumors and telomerase mRNA in 24 (96%) of them. Survivin expression was inversely associated with the depth of tumor and peritoneal metastasis, while histology, lymph node metastasis, stage, and telomerase expression were not associated. DNA fragmentation was observed in 8 out of 15 tumors including 4 of 9 survivin positive tumors and 4 of 6 survivin negative tumors (n.s.). CONCLUSIONS: Survivin was not likely to be related with an inhibition of apoptosis or induction of telomerase but may have some role in gastric cancer extension.