Clinical significance of expressions of hTERT and survivin in gallbladder carcinoma

Objective: To investigate the expressions and clinical significance of human telomerase reverse transcriptase(hTERT) and survivin in gallbladder carcinoma.Methods: The expressions of hTERT and survivin in 60 cases of primary gallbladder carcinoma,15 cases of gallbladder adenoma and 15 cases of chronic cholecystitis were determined using streptavidin-peroxidase immunohistochemical method.Results: The positive rates of hTERT and survivin were significantly higher in gallbladder carcinoma group than in gallbladder adenoma group and chronic cholecystitis group(P<0.01).The positive expression of hTERT in gallbladder carcinoma had no significant correlation with the gender,age,histologic type,gallbladder stone,pathological grade,Nevin stage,metastasis or survival time after operation(P>0.05).The positive expression was significantly higher in Nevin staging Ⅲ-Ⅴ group than in Nevin staging Ⅰ-Ⅱ group(P<0.05).The positive expression of survivin was higher in lymph node or distant metastasis group than in non-metastasis group(P<0.05).In gallbladder carcinoma,the expression of hTERT had a positive correlation with that of survivin(P<0.05).Conclusions: Abnormal high expressions of hTERT and survivin protein are observed in gallbladder carcinoma,and there is a positive correlation between them.Both hTERT and survivin play an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of gallbladder carcinoma,and may have a cooperative effect on the carcinogenesis.High expression of hTERT is an early event in the pathogenesis of gallbladder carcinoma.The overexpression of survivin indicates malignant biological behavior of gallbladder carcinoma to some extent.