title: The role of heat shock proteins in cancer.
abstract: Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are an evolutionary family of proteins that act as molecular chaperones. According to their size they have been classified into the following families; HSP90, HSP70, HSP60, HSP40 and HSP27. They prevent the formation of nonspecific protein aggregates and they assist proteins in the acquisition of their normal architecture. Moreover, HSPs are likely to have anti-apoptotic properties and are actively involved in various processes as tumor cell proliferation, invasion, metastases and death. Notably, these proteins have been reported to be significantly elevated in a plethora of human cancers. Their over-expression has been robustly associated with therapeutic resistance and poor survival. In this way, HSPs may have important therapeutic implications and they can be targeted by specific drugs. In this review, we discuss the influence of HSP27, HSP40, HSP60, HSP70 and HSP90 on human cancers. In addition, we report the existing scientific data on this issue with an effort to highlight the possible future implication of HSPs as tumor biomarkers or drug targets for improving prognosis and treatment of cancer patients around the world.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Biosystems and Genomic Network Medicine - CBS. GenNetMed, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GR 451 10, Greece; Department of Surgery, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GR 451 10, Greece.
authors.forename: Georgios D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Lianos
authors.affiliation: Centre for Biosystems and Genomic Network Medicine - CBS. GenNetMed, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GR 451 10, Greece; Department of Surgery, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GR 451 10, Greece.
authors.forename: George A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Alexiou
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Human Morphology, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mangano
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Human Morphology, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mangano
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Human Morphology, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rausei
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Human Morphology, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boni
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Human Morphology, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianlorenzo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dionigi
authors.affiliation: Centre for Biosystems and Genomic Network Medicine - CBS. GenNetMed, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GR 451 10, Greece; Department of Surgery, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GR 451 10, Greece. Electronic address: droukos@uoi.gr.
authors.forename: Dimitrios H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Roukos
mesh_terms: D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins
keywords: HSP90; HSPs; Personalized cancer medicine; Targeted agents; Tumor biomarkers