Survivin Is an Independent Prognostic Marker for Risk Stratification of Breast Cancer Patients

the association of the apoptosis inhibitor survivin with prognosis of breast cancer patients have been contradic-tory. Methods: Survivin mRNA was measured by quantita-tive TaqMan reverse transcription-PCR in 275 breast cancer tissues from patients with operable tumors and was correlated with established clinicopathologic fac-tors, relapse-free survival [(RFS); 102 events], and over-all survival [(OS); 81 events]. Results: High survivin mRNA concentrations were found mainly in tissues from younger patients and in high-grade cancer tissues. High survivin concentrations were most strongly associated with estrogen receptor- or progesterone receptor-negative tumors. In univariate Cox regression analysis for RFS, survivin concentration