AIM:Survivin,a recently identified member of the inhibitor ofapoptosis protein family,is expressed during development andin various human cancers.However,its expression in normaltissues and clinical relevance in cancers are still debated.Inthe present study,we analyzed the expression of the survivingene in human primary and metastatic gastric cancer cellsas well as in paired epithelial cells from normal gastric mucosaby means of a novel laser capture microdissection(LCM)technique coupled with reverse transcription-polymerasechain reaction(RT-PCR).METHODS:Thirty patients who had undergone gastrectomywith lymph node dissection for gastric cancer withoutpreoperative treatments were included.Neoplastic tissue,metastatic lymph nodes,and apparently uninvolved normaltissue were collected from each patient.LCM-captured“pure” cell groups were respectively subjected to RT-PCRanalysis with primers specific for the survivin gene.RESULTS:Of the paired samples from 30 gastric cancerpatients studied,24(80%)primary gastric cancer cellgroups and 7(23%)adjacent morphologically“normal”gastric epithelial cell groups were shown to have adetectable survivin expression.There was a statisticallysignificant difference in suvivin expression between thesetwo groups(P<0.01).Meanwhile,95%(19/20)of themetastatic gastric cancer cell groups from lymph nodeshad a clear expression of the survivin gene.However,nosignificant correlation between survivin expression andclinicopathological features of gastric cancer was observedin the present study.CONCLUSION:Survivin expression is present in themajority of gastric cancer cell groups obtained by LCMtechniques.The high expression rate in metastatic lesionssuggests a possible role of survivin in cancer invasivenessand metastasis.It may contribute to the detection of gastric cancer micrometastasis as a potential molecular marker.In addition,the high expression percentage renders survivina potential target in the therapy for gastric cancer.Wang ZN,Xu HM,Jiang L,Zhou X,Lu C,Zhang X.Expressionof survivin in primary and metastatic gastric cancer cellsobtained by laser capture microdissedion.World J Gastroenterol2004;10(21):3094-3098http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/10/3094.asp AIM: Survivin, a recently identified member of the inhibitor ofapoptosis protein family, is expressed during development and in various human cancers. However, its expression in normal tissues and clinical relevance in cancers are still debated. Now the present study, we analyzed the expression of the survivin gene in human primary and metastatic gastric cancer cells as well as in paired epithelial cells from normal gastric mucosaby means of a novel laser capture microdissection (LCM) technique coupled with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). METHODS: Thirty patients who had undergone gastrectomywith lymph node dissection for gastric cancer without applied surgery were included. Neoplastic tissue, metastatic lymph nodes, and apparently uninvolved normal tissue were collected from each patient. LCM-captured “pure” cell groups were respectively subjected to RT-PCR analysis with primers specific for the survivin gene .RESULTS: Of the paired samples from 30 gastric cancerpatients stud ied 24 (80%) of primary gastric cancer cellgroups and 7 (23%) adjacent morphologically “normal” gastric epithelial cell groups were shown to have adetectable survivin expression.There was a significant difference between in suvivin expression between thesetwo groups (P <0.01) Of course, 95% (19/20) of the themetastatic gastric cancer cell groups from lymph nodeshad a clear expression of the survivin gene. Still, nosignificant correlation between survivin expression and clinicopathological features of gastric cancer was observed in the present study. CONCLUSION: Survivin expression is present in the majority of gastric cancer cell groups obtained by LCMtechniques. high expression rate in metastatic lesionssuggests a possible role of survivin in cancer invasiveness and metastasis. It may contribute to the detection of gastric cancer micrometastasis as a potential molecular marker. In addition, the high expression percentage renders survivin potential target in the therapy for gastric cancer. Wang ZN, Xu HM, Jiang L, Zhou X, Lu C, Zhang X. Expression of survivin in primary and metastatic gastric cancer cell sobtained by laser capture microdisseion. World J Gastroenterol 2004; 10 (21): 3094-3098 http: //www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327 /10/3094.asp