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Dynamic survivin in head and neck cancer: Molecular mechanism and therapeutic potential
Author(s) -
Lippert Burkhard M.,
Knauer Shirley K.,
Fetz Verena,
Mann Wolf,
Stauber Roland H.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.22941
Subject(s) - survivin , head and neck squamous cell carcinoma , cancer research , cancer , medicine , mechanism (biology) , head and neck cancer , effector , oncology , clinical significance , bioinformatics , pathology , biology , immunology , philosophy , epistemology
Abstract Although disease management of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) has improved significantly, therapy resistance leading to tumor recurrence still counteracts improvement of long‐term survival. Consequently, identification of molecular markers that signal increased risk of treatment failure or, which can be exploited by targeted therapy, is urgently needed. Survivin is strongly expressed in HNSCC, and its proposed dual role as an apoptosis inhibitor and a mitotic effector positioned survivin in the front line of cancer research. Notably, survivin is detected as a cytoplasmic and as a nuclear protein in HNSCC patients, which stimulated numerous studies to investigate and to speculate on the functional and prognostic significance of its dynamic localization. This review focuses on our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating survivin's intracellular localization and discusses its potential prognostic and therapeutic relevance for head and neck cancer. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.