Borowczak Jędrzej, Łaszczych Dariusz, Czyżnikiewicz Adrianna, Marszałek Andrzej, Szylberg Łukasz, Bodnar Magdalena
Clinical Department of Oncology, Oncology Centre - Prof. Franciszek Łukaszczyk Memorial Hospital, 85-796, Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Department of Clinical Medicine, Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology, Prof. Sylwester Kaliskiego 7, 85-796, Bydgoszcz, Poland.
J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2025 Sep 19;151(10):264. doi: 10.1007/s00432-025-06309-4.
Molecular alterations drive the pathogenesis of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), yet reliable prognostic biomarkers remain elusive. Heat shock proteins (HSPs), which mediate cellular stress responses, are implicated in cancer progression and treatment resistance. This study aimed to evaluate whether HSP27 and HSP70 expression correlate with clinicopathological features and survival outcomes in LSCC. Specifically, we assessed their potential as prognostic biomarkers in this malignancy.
Immunohistochemistry was performed on 158 LSCC tissue samples from 40 patients and compared to 30 normal laryngeal tissue samples. Expression levels of HSP27 and HSP70 were correlated with clinicopathological variables. Validation was conducted using transcriptomic and survival data from 112 LSCC cases in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were used to assess survival.
HSP27 was significantly overexpressed in LSCC tissues compared to controls and was associated with advanced tumor stage, nodal metastasis, alcohol abstinence, and older age. HSP70 expression correlated with higher tumor grade and female sex but did not differ significantly between cancerous and noncancerous tissues. In the TCGA cohort, low expression of HSP27 and HSP70 was significantly associated with worse overall survival. Low HSP27 expression emerged as an independent predictor of shorter survival (hazard ratio 2.28; 95% confidence interval, 1.11-4.67; p = 0.024).
HSP27 and HSP70 show potential as prognostic biomarkers in LSCC, with high expression linked to favorable outcomes. These findings warrant further investigation into their mechanistic roles in tumor progression, therapy resistance, and their potential utility as therapeutic targets.
分子改变驱动喉鳞状细胞癌（LSCC）的发病机制，但可靠的预后生物标志物仍然难以捉摸。热休克蛋白（HSPs）介导细胞应激反应，与癌症进展和治疗耐药性有关。本研究旨在评估HSP27和HSP70表达是否与LSCC的临床病理特征和生存结果相关。具体而言，我们评估了它们作为这种恶性肿瘤预后生物标志物的潜力。
对40例患者的158份LSCC组织样本进行免疫组织化学分析，并与30份正常喉组织样本进行比较。HSP27和HSP70的表达水平与临床病理变量相关。使用来自癌症基因组图谱（TCGA）中112例LSCC病例的转录组和生存数据进行验证。采用Kaplan-Meier和Cox回归分析评估生存率。
与对照组相比，HSP27在LSCC组织中显著过表达，且与肿瘤晚期、淋巴结转移、戒酒和年龄较大有关。HSP70表达与较高的肿瘤分级和女性性别相关，但在癌组织和非癌组织之间无显著差异。在TCGA队列中，HSP27和HSP70的低表达与较差的总生存期显著相关。HSP27低表达是较短生存期的独立预测因子（风险比2.28；95%置信区间，1.11 - 4.67；p = 0.024）。
HSP27和HSP70在LSCC中显示出作为预后生物标志物的潜力，高表达与良好的结果相关。这些发现值得进一步研究它们在肿瘤进展、治疗耐药性中的机制作用以及作为治疗靶点的潜在效用。
