BIRC5 and cancer: Survivin, which is the smallest member of the IAP family, is overexpressed during the development of human cancer and is associated with poor survival.10 In cancer cells, upregulation of survivin leads to the inhibition of apoptosis via interaction with caspase3 and 7 to inhibit their enzymatic activity.11 In addition, it has been demonstrated that overexpression of survivin in primary ALL plays a critical role in drug resistance and its down-regulation in combination with chemotherapy leads to the eradication of ALL leukemia cells.10