Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a progressive debilitating autoimmune disease, affecting 1% of the world population, leading to cartilage and bone destruction caused by insufficient apoptosis in the inflamed RA synovium. Survivin is a protooncogene biomarker known for its anti-apoptotic and cell cycle-regulating properties. Overexpression of survivin in non-cancerous processes has been linked to inflammation, presumably contributing to the decreased apoptosis in the T cells of the cerebrospinal fluid in multiple sclerosis, in skin lesions of patients with psoriasis and in synovial tissue of patients with RA.