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Abstract
Purpose
Heat shock proteins (hsps) are synthesized by cells in response to various stress conditions, including carcinogenesis. The expression of hsps in neoplasia has been implicated in the regulation of cell signaling pathway such as cell survival and apoptosis. This study aimed to determine whether hsps expression in various thyroid neoplasia are significant and to identify the possibility as a therapeutic molecular target.
Methods
We examined the expression of the hsp70 and hsp90 on tissue section from 53 thyroid tissues (16 normal tissues; 11 nodular hyperplasia; 12 follicular adenomas; 14 papillary carcinomas) using immunohistochemistry. Hsps expression was scored according to the percentage of positively stained cells (grade 0 to grade III).
Results
For hsp70, all of the 53 tissues showed overexpression. 100% (16/16) of normal thyroid tissue and 87.0% (20/23) of benign tissue were categorized as grade I or II. In comparison, the carcinoma tissues showed expression in 64.3% with grade III. For hsp90, almost of normal thyroid tissue and benign tumors showed no expression (87.5% in normal tissues, 91.3% in benign tumors). However, all of carcinoma tissues showed expression and 78.6% (11/14) of carcinoma were in grade II or III.
Conclusion
In current study, the pattern of expression for hsp70 and hsp90 in normal, benign, malignant thyroid tissues suggests that heat shock proteins might have some role in tumorigenesis in thyroid. Since there have been no reports on heat shock proteins and thyroid, further study is necessary and could give us clinically significant clue for diagnosis and treatment.
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