• H W Lee and K M Kim.
• Department of Pathology, Samsung Changwon Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Changwon, South Korea.
• Niger J Clin Pract. 2019 Dec 1; 22 (12): 1698-1705.

BackgroundHeat shock protein 90 (HSP90) possesses two major isoforms - HSP90α and HSP90β. They have essential roles in the protection against stressful conditions. They are also important for the re-establishment of cellular homeostasis. We investigated the clinical significance of HSP90α and HSP90β expression in patients with gastric cancer (GC).MethodsHSP90α and HSP90β expression levels were examined immunohistochemically in surgical specimens obtained from 186 GC patients. The correlations between their expression levels and clinicopathological parameters including patient survival were analyzed.ResultsThe frequencies of larger tumor size (maximum diameter ≥4 cm) and more prominent tumor invasion (≥pT3) in the high intensity HSP90α expression group were 73.4% and 68.8% higher, respectively, than those in the low intensity group (both P = 0.001). High HSP90α expression level was also significantly associated with lymphatic invasion, lymph node metastasis, and advanced stage (TNM stage ≥III) disease (P = 0.047, P = 0.046, and P = 0.004, respectively). Patients with high HSP90α expression levels demonstrated significantly worse survival than those with low HSP90α expression levels (P = 0.047). In contrast, survival did not differ significantly according to the intensity of HSP90β expression.ConclusionsOur results showed that HSP90α overexpression might be associated with disease progression and poorer survival in patients with GC. Therefore, HSP90α could be used as possible biomarker for the prognosis of GC.

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