Dysregulation of heat shock protein 27 expression in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Recent proteomic studies identified Hsp27 as a highly over-expressed protein in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Clinical studies that attempted to evaluate the prognostic values of Hsp27 yielded inconsistent results, which may be due to inclusion of OSCC cases from multiple anatomic sites. In this study, to determine the utility of Hsp27 for prognosis, we focused on oral tongue SCC (OTSCC), one of the most aggressive forms of OSCC.


METHODS
Archival clinical samples of 15 normal oral tongue mucosa, 31 dysplastic lesions, 80 primary OTSCC, and 32 lymph node metastases were examined for Hsp27 expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Statistical analyses were carried out to assess the prognostic value of Hsp27 expression for patients with this disease.


RESULTS
Dysregulation of Hsp27 expression was observed in dysplastic lesions, primary OTSCC, and lymph node metastases, and appears to be associated with disease progression. Statistical analysis revealed that the reduced Hsp27 expression in primary tumor tissue was associated with poor differentiation. Furthermore, the higher expression of Hsp27 was correlated with better overall survival.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study confirmed that the dysregulation of Hsp27 expression is a frequent event during the progression of OTSCC. The expression of Hsp27 appears to be an independent prognostic marker for patients with this disease.
Wang
Anxun
A
Center for Molecular Biology of Oral Diseases, College of Dentistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA. anxunwang@yahoo.com
Liu
Xiqiang
X
Sheng
Shihu
S
Ye
Hui
H
Peng
Tingsheng
T
Shi
Fei
F
Crowe
David L
DL
Zhou
Xiaofeng
X
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D055551:HSP27 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
D055551:HSP27 Heat-Shock Proteins