title: Hsps are up-regulated in melanoma tissue and correlate with patient clinical parameters.
abstract: Heat shock proteins (hsps) have been studied in numerous cancer types, but a clear view of their clinical relevance in melanoma remains elusive. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the expression of hsps in melanoma with respect to patient clinical parameters. Using Western immunoblotting, hsps 90, 70, 60, 40 and 32 were observed to be widely expressed in metastatic melanomas (n = 31), while immunofluorescence demonstrated that in the majority of samples these hsps, apart from hsp32, were increased in expression in melanoma cells compared with surrounding non-melanoma cells in situ (n = 8). Correlating hsp expression with patient clinical parameters indicated that greater hsp90 (P < 0.02) and hsp40 (P < 0.03) expression correlated with advanced stage (stage III Vs stage IV), while in the case of hsp40, this was additionally associated with reduced patient survival (P < 0.05). In contrast, higher hsp32 expression was associated with improved patient survival (P < 0.007). On the other hand, the expression of the other hsps did not correlate with any obtainable patient clinical parameters. This study provides further evidence for the importance of hsps in melanoma and for their use as therapeutic targets and biomarkers, but larger-scale follow-up studies are required to confirm these results.
authors.affiliation: Tübingen Ageing and Tumour Immunology Group, Section for Transplantation Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine II, Centre for Medical Research, University of Tübingen, Waldhörnlestr. 22, 72072 Tübingen, Germany. mrchristophershipp@gmail.com
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shipp
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weide
authors.forename: Evelyna
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Derhovanessian
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pawelec
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015153:Blotting, Western; D005260:Female; D050956:HSP40 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018841:HSP90 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051547:Heme Oxygenase-1 / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D050956:HSP40 Heat-Shock Proteins; D018841:HSP90 Heat-Shock Proteins; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; C496541:HMOX1 protein, human; D051547:Heme Oxygenase-1