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World J Clin Oncol. Dec 10, 2014; 5(5): 883-894
Published online Dec 10, 2014. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v5.i5.883
Association of survivin splice variants with prognosis and treatment of breast cancer
Anastasia Pavlidou, Christos Kroupis, Kleanthi Dimas
Anastasia Pavlidou, Christos Kroupis, Kleanthi Dimas, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Attikon University General Hospital, Haidari 12462, Greece
Author contributions: Pavlidou A performed the literature research, executed data analysis and wrote the manuscript; Kroupis C and Dimas K reviewed the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Christos Kroupis, MSc, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Attikon University General Hospital, Rimini 1, Haidari 12462, Greece. ckroupis@med.uoa.gr
Telephone: +30-210-5831911 Fax: +30-210-5831912
Received: December 31, 2013
Revised: September 13, 2014
Accepted: October 1, 2014
Published online: December 10, 2014
Core Tip

Core tip: Besides wild type survivin full length transcript, another six splice variants have been identified. Overexpression of survivin and its isoforms leads to shorter overall and disease-free survival; the transcript variants are positively correlated with apoptosis and could assist prognosis prediction. It has been proved through numerous studies that inhibiting survivin isoforms might become a promising target of drug therapy of carcinomas. Use of small molecule YM155 could offer new therapy for triple negative breast cancer patients while, chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil + epirubicin + cyclophosphamide and Tax-Epi could be guided by survivin splice variants measurements. Survivin transcript variants could become prognostic biomarkers and could provide information about clinical management of patients suffering from breast cancer.