BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE:Survivin, a member of the inhibitors of apoptosis protein family (IAPs), is over-expressed in many cancers but not in normal differentiated adult tissues. It is known to be involved in poor prognosis and resistance to chemo- and radiation therapy in many cancers. This study was designed to detect the expression of survivin in normal people, newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory patients of multiple myeloma (MM), to find out the relationships of its expression with drug resistance and prognosis of MM patients.

METHODS: RT-PCR and Western blot was used to detect mRNA and protein expression of survivin in 29 MM patients (17 newly diagnosed patients and 12 relapsed /refractory patients), 9 cases of normal people and myeloma cell line KM3.

RESULTS: KM3 cell line expessed survivin strongly. The positive rates of survivin mRNA in nomal people, newly diagnosed patients and relapsed/refractory patients were 22.2%, 70.5% and 83.3% respectively, and the expressing levels (survivin/β-actin) were 0.06±0.04, 0.31±0.14 and 0.69±0.24 respectively. On protein level, survivin could not be detected in all of the normal people, while in newly diagnosed patients and relapsed/refractory patients, the positive rate were 41.4% and 58.3%

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