With respect to the role of survivin in resistance against radiation-induced apoptosis in tumour cells under normoxia, the overexpression of dominant-negative mutants of survivin (T34A and D53A) was demonstrated to enhance radiation-induced apoptosis in mouse fibroblast cell line NIH3T3, human cervical carcinoma cell line HeLa and human lung carcinoma cell line A549 (Ogura et al, 2008). This evidence concerns the gene BIRC5 and lung carcinoma.