Detection of survivin 2 alpha gene expression in thyroid nodules

Abstract

Context: Functional studies of the survivin splice variants have been performed almost exclusively in various types of cancer and produced remarkable advances in our understanding of cancer biology and cancer genetics. Aim: To observation the expression of survivin 2 alpha in thyroid nodules and estimate its potential as a new molecular marker in thyroid nodules screening and malignant thyroid, as well. Setting and Design: We detected the expression of a splice variant of survivin, survivin 2 alpha, in thyroid nodules. Materials and Methods: Expression of survivin 2 alpha mRNA was evaluated with specific primers by Hemi-Nested RT-PCR in 77 thyroid nodules including malignant and benign tumors, non-tumoral (goiter and thyroiditis) as well as surgical margin, non-neoplastic normal tissues adjacent to the malignant lesions. Result: Our data revealed for the first time the expression of survivin 2 alpha in thyroid nodules. It was detected in 85.7% of non-neoplastic surgical margin tissues, 71.4% of non tumoral, 63.2% of tumoral samples. Also, the expression of survivin 2 alpha in benign tumor samples (64.2%) is more than malignant groups (62.8%). Conclusion: Survivin 2 alpha expression is the highest in non-neoplastic surgical margin rather than other samples and the lowest expression was that of malignancy. According to the results, it can be concluded that survivin 2 alpha protein may be has a vital protective effect throw survivin quenching due to the high expression in normal tissue compared with lesions.