Abstract:Objective:To study the expression of the apoptosis inhibitor Livin gene and its relationship with the expression of Bcl-2, p53 proteins in pancreatic carcinoma.
Methods :The expression of Livin mRNA was investigated by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in pancreatic carcinoma tissue of 52 cases and normal pancreatic tissue of 12 cases. The expression of Bcl-2 and p53 was detected by immunohistochemical assay.
Results:The expression rate of Livin gene in pancreatic carcinoma tissue was 71.2%, which was obviously higher than that in normal pancreatic tissue (P＜0.01). There was relationship between Livin gene expression and the differentiation and lymph node metastasis of pancreatic carcinoma (P＜0.05). The expression of Livin gene was correlated with Bcl-2 expression, but was not with p53 expression.
Conclusions:Livin gene may play an important role in the pathogenesis of pancreatic carcinoma. The up-regulated expression of Livin and Bcl-2 may play synergetic roles in the process of carcinogenesis of pancreatic carcinoma. There was no relationship between Livin expression and dysfunction of p53.