Survivin is a member of the
inhibitor-of-apoptosis proteins (IAPs) family; its overexpression has been widely demonstrated to occur in various types of
cancer. Overexpression of
survivin also correlates with
tumor progression and induces anticancer drug resistance. Interestingly, recent studies reveal that
survivin exhibits multiple pro-mitotic and anti-apoptotic functions; the differential functions of
survivin seem to be caused by differential subcellular localization, phosphorylation, and acetylation of this molecule. In this review, the complex expression regulations and post-translational modifications of
survivin are discussed. This review also discusses how recent discoveries improve our understanding of
survivin biology and also create opportunities for developing differential-functioned
survivin-targeted
therapy. Databases such as PubMed, Scopus® (Elsevier, New York, NY, USA), and SciFinder® (CAS, Columbus,
OH, USA) were used to search for literature in the preparation of this review.