Specifically, we found that BIRC5, which codes for survivin, is upregulated in both adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma tissues and that high expression of BIRC5 is associated with poor survival in adenocarcinoma, but not squamous cell carcinoma.
To investigate, whether increased copy numbers of the survivin-encoding gene BIRC5 results in elevated survivin levels and whether BIRC5 and survivin could serve as progression markers in the clinical course of OSCC, tumor tissue microarray analysis was performed applying fluorescence in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry to 296 OSCC specimens.
In this study, we investigated the potential expression and prognostic significance of the apoptosis inhibitor survivin in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).