Prognosis of glioma patients by combined immunostaining for survivin, Ki-67 and epidermal growth factor receptor

To confirm that survivin expression is a sensitive marker for the prognosis of glioma patients, surgically resected tissues of ninety-nine Japanese glioma patients using antibodies against survivin, Ki-67 and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) were examined immunohistochemically. The median survival of patients with high survivin expression was significantly shorter than that with low expression (322 vs. 1084 days). Ki-67 expression was significantly associated with that of survivin, whereas no significant association between survivin and EGFR expressions was observed. Patients with low EGFR and low survivin expression survived longer than patients with high EGFR and low survivin expression (1509 vs. 795 days). These results indicate that survivin is a highly sensitive marker for glioma prognosis and suggest that the expression levels of survivin and other markers combined, including EGFR, might be a potent tool for the clinical prognosis of glioma patients.