[Overexpression of heat shock protein 70 and spontaneous cancer cell apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the expression of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) and its relation to spontaneous cancer cell apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).


METHODS
A series of 68 resected HCC tissues from untreated patients and 68 adjacent normal liver tissues were analyzed for HSP70 expression and apoptosis by immunohistochemical SP and TUNEL methods.


RESULTS
HSP70 was detected positive in 48/68(71%) cases of HCC and 19/68(28%) cases of the adjacent liver tissues. Overexpression of HSP70 was found in 36/68(53%) cases of HCC and 14/68(21%) cases of the liver tissues. The positive rate and overexpression of HSP70 were significantly higher in HCC than in the liver tissues (P<0.01). Apoptosis index was 8.9 in HCC and 1.9 in the liver tissues, showing significant different between the two groups (P<0.01). The positive rate of HSP70 was correlated with apoptosis index (r=0.8765, P<0.05) and both of them correlated with HCC histological grades.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that there is an overexpression of HSP70 and spontaneous cancer cell apoptosis in HCC. They seem to be markers of poor proliferation.
Yin
Y
Y
Department of Infectious Diseases, Affiliated Hospital of Taishan Medical College, Taian 271000, China.
Qin
Q
Q
Zhang
W
W
Zhao
J
J
Zhang
C
C
Yu
J
J
D017209:Apoptosis; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology
D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins