Survivin beyond physiology: Orchestration of multistep carcinogenesis and therapeutic potentials

• Survivin acts at the intersection between cell proliferation and cell survival.
• Over-expression of survivin in cancer is associated with worse clinical outcome.
• Survivin is an ideal target for anti-cancer therapy.

Survivin, a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein family, has been associated with protection from cell apoptosis and regulation of mitosis. Survivin exhibits low to undetectable expression in most finally differentiated adult tissues but is abundantly over-expressed in almost all cancers. The aberrant high expression of survivin in cancers is associated with advanced disease, increased rate of tumor recurrence, abbreviated overall survival and resistance to chemo- and radio- therapy. Survivin touches nearly every aspect of cancer and is involved in the initiation, maintenance and development of tumor. Therefore, its significance in cancer dictates the pursuit for anti-survivin cancer therapies.