Serum antibodies to the 27-kd heat shock protein in women with gynecologic cancers.
OBJECTIVE
Among women the association between heat shock protein immunity and cancer has been examined primarily for breast cancer. Autoantibodies to the 27-kd heat shock protein were detected in some patients with breast cancer but not in control subjects, and the presence of these antibodies was correlated with improved survival. We examined the relationship between autoimmunity to heat shock proteins and the diagnosis of malignancies of the female genital tract.


METHODS
Serum samples from women seen for possible gynecologic malignancies or returning for evaluation after surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or a combination for gynecologic cancers were tested for immunoglobulin G antibodies to the 27-kd, 60-kd, 70-kd, and 90-kd heat shock proteins by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with the purified recombinant proteins bound to wells of a microtiter plate. Serum samples from women with no history of malignancies served as control preparations.


RESULTS
Antibodies to the 27-kd heat shock protein were detected in only 1 of 29 healthy control subjects (3.4%) and 1 of 23 women whose lesions were benign (4.3%). In marked contrast, 39 of 96 women with gynecologic cancers (40.6%) had positive antibody detection (P =.0004 vs benign). The percentages of positive results seen for ovarian (17/34, 50%), endometrial (13/34, 38.2%), cervical and uterine (3/10, 30%), vaginal and vulvar (3/5, 60%), and other (3/13, 23.1%) cancers were not significantly different from each other. Similar prevalences of antibodies to the 27-kd heat shock protein were seen among patients with cancer who had untreated active disease and after treatment. Unlike the results with antibodies to the 27-kd heat shock protein there was no relationship between antibodies to the other heat shock proteins and any gynecologic cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
Circulating autoantibodies to the 27-kd heat shock protein were found to be associated with malignancies of the female genital tract.
Divisions of Immunology and Infectious Diseases and Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY 10021, USA.
I
I
Korneeva
A M
AM
Bongiovanni
M
M
Girotra
T A
TA
Caputo
S S
SS
Witkin
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005833:Genital Neoplasms, Female / Q000276:immunology*; D055551:HSP27 Heat-Shock Proteins; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D011247:Pregnancy; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D014625:Vaginal Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D014846:Vulvar Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology
D001323:Autoantibodies; D055551:HSP27 Heat-Shock Proteins; C057725:HSPB1 protein, human; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins