BREAST CANCER

APOPTOSIS INHIBITORY PROTEIN SURVIVIN AND CASEIN KINASE 2

Abstract

CK2 enzyme is up regulated in several cancers. It has many substrates
including survivin which is up regulated in cancers. Objectives: To find out the correlation
between expression of CK2α and survivin and evaluate it as a prospective prognostic marker in
pathogenesis of the breast cancer and to find if positive correlation between CK2 and survivin
was associated with advancing disease. Study Design: Cross Sectional Analytical type of study.
Setting: Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Army Medical College, Rawalpindi
and Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi. Duration of study: January 2013-
December 2014. Methods: The research protocol was approved by Armed Forces Institute of
Pathology Ethical Committee. Paraffin embedded tissue sections of diagnosed breast cancer,
obtained from AFIP, were used. Immunohistochemistry was performed to determine nuclear
and cytoplasm expression of survivin, and CK2 .Scoring done by three histopathologists,
independently. Results: Total CK2 expression was high in invasive as compared to noninvasive
cases (p =0.209). Cytoplasm and nuclear localization of CK2 in invasive group was a
little higher too (p = 0.092) and (p=0.286) respectively. Total survivin expression was high in
invasive as compared to non-invasive cases (p= 0.449). Cytoplasm and nuclear localization
of survivin in invasive group was higher as compared to noninvasive group with no significant
different (p=0.472) and (p=0.367) respectively. A positive and strong correlation was found in
CK2 and survivin expression and localization in both non-invasive as well as invasive groups.
Conclusion: CK2 and survivin correlation in cancers can be used in predicting the cancer
phenotype and aggression at early stages.