Do heat shock proteins have a role in breast cancer?

Abstract

It is clear therefore that hsps are overexpressed in patients with malignant tumours compared with healthy controls and this overexpression does show some correlation with disease features. Furthermore, expression of hsps has been reported on the cell surface of tumour cell lines. This could be associated with the immune response which has been reported with hsp90 and which also correlates with some disease features. It now appears that hsps may be involved in the presentation of tumour antigens leading to the possibility of hsps being used as a means of therapy. Hsp65 expression has not been investigated in patients with breast cancer. However, transfection of bacterial hsp65 into a tumour cell line resulted in the hsp65-expressing tumour cells losing their tumorigenicity in mice (Lukacs et al., 1993). Thus, hsps and the immune response to them are of interest as diagnostic and prognostic tools as well as a novel form of immunotherapy.

Preanalytical variables and phosphoepitope expression in FFPE tissue: quantitative epitope assessment after variable cold ischemic time

“…It is believed that this protein in the phosphorylated form has a role in increasing cell survival in stress situations and is upregulated in breast and other cancers. [34][35][36] Espina et al 19 have previously provided evidence about the post-excisional reactivity and dynamic state of tissues and the major molecular events and adoptive cellular mechanisms in response to stress, hypoxia, and other environmental factors.This result was also consistent with the previous study from our team showing that some proteins that are expressed in response to hypoxia, presented increased expression with increased time-to-fixation. 17 We did not observe any change in expression levels of phospho-ER that are potentially valuable as a companion diagnostic test for breast cancer specimens.…”

Heat Shock Protein 70 Neutralization Exerts Potent Antitumor Effects in Animal Models of Colon Cancer and Melanoma

“…HSP70 up-regulation, as a consequence of either oncogenic transformation or cellular stress, may inhibit apoptosis induced by a wide range of cellular insults, as suggested by transfection experiments in vitro (16,21). HSP70 overexpression in cancer cells also increases their tumorigenicity in rodent models (22), and high HSP70 expression in human breast cancer, glioblastoma, endometrial, or renal tumors has been associated with metastasis, poor prognosis, and resistance to chemotherapy or radiation therapy (23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28). The down-regulation of HSP70 can be sufficient to kill tumor cells or to sensitize them to cytotoxic druginduced apoptosis in vitro and to decrease their tumorigenicity in vivo (29,30).…”

Increased Hsp27 after Androgen Ablation Facilitates Androgen-Independent Progression in Prostate Cancer via Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription 3–Mediated Suppression of Apoptosis

“…Higher levels of Hsp27 are commonly detected in various cancers including breast (10), gastric (11), ovarian and endometrial (12,13), osteosarcoma (14), glial tumors (15), and prostate (16). Increased Hsp27 levels in breast, endometrial, and gastric cancer is associated with metastasis, poor prognosis, and resistance to chemotherapy or radiation (10,(17)(18)(19).…”