Investigation of survivin and autophagy marker expression in different Indian cancer tissue samples

Abstract

Survivin, an inhibitor of apoptosis protein, is minimally expressed in normal adult tissues but overexpressed in multiple cancers. This study investigates survivin expression alongside autophagy markers ATG7 and LC3B in seven solid tumor types in Indian patient samples. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed on 48 cancer tissue samples (breast n = 7, buccal n = 6, cervical n = 5, colon n = 8, renal n = 6, liver n = 10, thyroid n = 6) and adjacent normal tissues (n = 9) using anti-human antibodies against survivin, ATG7, and LC3B. Expression levels were semi-quantitatively scored (0–3 +) and statistically analyzed. Survivin demonstrated significant overexpression in cancer tissues compared to normal tissues across all tumor types (p ≤ 0.05–0.0001). Moreover, a statistically significant inverse correlation was observed between survivin and autophagy marker (ATG7/LC3B) expression in 85% of examined samples. Breast, buccal, liver, and kidney cancers showed strong-to-moderate survivin expression in > 50% of cases, while thyroid cancers exhibited predominantly weak survivin expression with strong autophagy marker expression. These findings demonstrate consistent survivin overexpression with concomitant autophagy suppression in Indian cancer patients. The inverse relationship between survivin and autophagy marker expression suggests survivin inhibition as a potential therapeutic strategy to activate autophagic cell death, particularly in breast, buccal, liver, and kidney cancers with high survivin expression. Future large-scale validation studies and mechanistic investigations are warranted to translate these findings into personalized survivin-targeted therapeutic strategies. This study contributes to a better understanding of survivin and its relation to autophagy in various solid tumors, paving the way for novel therapeutics for cancer.