Expression of antiapoptotic survivin gene in treated and untreated Ehrlich tumor bearing mice with prodigiosin as a significant marker

Introduction & Aim: Survivin gene is a member of IAP (Inhibitors of Apoptosis Proteins) family. It’s over expression has been demonstrated in tumors of breast, as well as in esophagus, pancreas, bladder, uterus, cervix, ovary, large-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and leukemia, neuroblastomas, melanomas, gastric tumors, colon, stomach, liver, oral, thyroid, laryngeal, osteosarcoma and prostate cancer. The main objective was to investigate the level of this marker in treated and untreated Ehrlich tumor bearing mice with prodigiosin (a red pigment extracted from Serratia marcesens has different biological functions) and study of its relationship with the growth of tumor and survival of Ehrlich tumor bearing mice. Methods: Apoptosis was investigated by immunohistochemistry staining technique and survivin gene expression was investigated quantitatively PCR in six different groups of Erlich tumor bearing mice each group has 10 mice and groups were classified as follow: Group (A1) treated with 5 mg prodigiosin for 14 days; group (A2) treated with 5 mg prodigiosin for 21 days; group (B1) treated with 10 mg prodigiosin for 14 days; group (B2) treated with 10 mg prodigiosin for 21 days; group (C1) untreated group and killed after 14 days and group (C2) untreated group and killed after 21 days.