Survivinを標的とした癌診断と治療法の開発

Survivin is a multifunctional protein that is overexpressed in variety of cancers. It is a member of inhibitor of apoptosis gene family and regulates apoptosis as well as mitotic progression in concert with Aurora B kinase and INCENP. Survivin benefits cancer cells not only by antagonizing apoptotic stimuli but also by immortalizing and conferring immune privilege to them by upregulating human telomerase reverse transcriptase and Fas ligand. There are anti-survivin autoantibodies in the serum of patients with cancers and it can be utilized for cancer diagnosis. Survivin is also a promising therapeutic target as the downregulation leads cancer cells to apoptosis. In this review, we summarize the functions of survivin in cancer biology and focus on this molecule to utilize in clinical practice