Survivin is expressed in degenerated nucleus pulposus cells and is involved in proliferation and the prevention of apoptosis in vitro

Lin,Yazhou; Yue,Bin; Xiang,Hongfei; Liu,Yong; Ma,Xuexiao; Chen,Bohua

doi:10.3892/mmr.2015.4605

Survivin is expressed in degenerated nucleus pulposus cells and is involved in proliferation and the prevention of apoptosis in vitro

Authors:
- Yazhou Lin
- Bin Yue
- Hongfei Xiang
- Yong Liu
- Xuexiao Ma
- Bohua Chen
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Affiliations: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 266003, P.R. China
Published online on: November 23, 2015 https://doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2015.4605
Pages: 1026-1032
Copyright: © Lin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Survivin is a unique inhibitor of apoptosis, which is frequently present within degenerated human nucleus pulposus (NP) cells. Survivin has been extensively investigated using proliferation and apoptosis assays in tumor cells; however, studies conducted on survivin in degenerative NP cells remain limited to date. The aim of the present study was to investigate survivin expression and its effects on the proliferation and apoptosis of degenerated NP cells in vitro. The expression levels of survivin in the NP cells of patients (>45 years) with lumbar disc degenerative disease and the NP cells of patients (<25 years) with lumbar vertebra fracture were assessed by reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The effects on in vitro proliferation and apoptosis were investigated through transfection with a specific small interfering (si)RNA. The results of the present study demonstrated that survivin was expressed in the degenerated NP cells, but was undetectable in normal NP cells at the mRNA level. Survivin suppression following transfection with a specific survivin‑siRNA reduced the proliferation rate of NP cells and enhanced sensitization to pro‑apoptotic stimuli. Therefore, survivin was shown to be expressed and exhibit an important role in the proliferation and prevention of apoptosis of degenerated NP cells. Studies on survivin in NP cells may aid in increasing the understanding of the complex processes underlying NP cell degeneration, and could provide fundamental information for gene therapy to inhibit this degeneration in vitro.

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