Autoantibodies to survivin in the sera of patients with infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the breast

Autoantibodies to survivin have been reported in lung cancers and in gastrointestinal cancers. A few reports have also described a low prevalence of autoantibodies to survivin and at low titres in the sera of breast cancer patients with no implications for their clinical usefulness. This study was designed to re-examine the prevalence and the clinical correlations of autoantibodies to the tumour protein survivin, in the sera of patients with infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the breast using an ELISA assay. In spite of the low prevalence of autoantibodies to survivin (7%, n = 57), their presence was associated with grade III tumours, with tumour sizes exceeding 10cm, with axillary lymph nodal involvement and with metastases. Moreover, all the autoantibody-positive cases were estrogen and progesterone receptors negative. Furthermore, all the autoantibody-positive cases expressed survivin with high scores.