Survivin - The inconvenient IAP

Semin Cell Dev Biol. 2015 Mar:39:91-6. doi: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2014.12.007. Epub 2015 Jan 12.

Abstract

Although technically a member of the Inhibitor of Apoptosis (IAP) gene family, survivin has consistently defied assumptions, refuted predictions and challenged paradigms. Despite its more than 5500 citations currently in Medline, the biology of survivin has remained fascinatingly complex, its exploitation in human disease, most notably cancer, tantalizing, and its regulation of cellular homeostasis unexpectedly far-reaching. An inconvenient outsider that resists schemes and dogmas, survivin continues to hold great promise to unlock fundamental circuitries of cellular functions in health and disease.

Keywords: Apoptosis; Cancer; Cell division; IAP; Mitotic catastrophe; Survivin.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Division
  • Cell Survival
  • Humans
  • Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins / chemistry
  • Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins / genetics*
  • Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins / metabolism*
  • Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Neoplasms / pathology
  • Protein Processing, Post-Translational
  • Signal Transduction*
  • Survivin

Substances

  • BIRC5 protein, human
  • Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins
  • Survivin