Expression and clinical significance of heat shock transcription factor 1 protein in human hepatocellular carcinoma tissues

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1) protein in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues,and deduce the probable molecular mechanism of HSF1 in the development and advancement of HCC.Methods Sixty-seven samples of HCC tissue and 21 samples of normal liver tissue were obtained from March 2006 to March 2007 at the Xijing Hospital.The expressions of HSF1 protein and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) were detected by using immunohistochemistry.The probable molecular mechanism of HSF1 in the development and advancement of HCC was deduced according to the relationship between the expressions of HSF1 protein and HSP70.Positive rates of HSF1 protein in different tissues and the relationship between HSF1 protein expression in the HCC tissues and clinical pathological factors were analyzed by the chi-square test and by calculating Fisher exact probability,respectively.The correlation between the expressions of HSF1 protein and HSP70 in the HCC tissue was analyzed by the Spearman correlation coefficient.The survival curve was drawn by the Kaplan-Meier method,and the survival rate was analyzed by the Log-rank test.Results The positive rates of HSF1 protein expression was 69％ (46/67) in the HCC tissue,which was significantly higher than 29％ (6/21) in the normal liver tissue ( x2 =10.628,P ＜ 0.05 ),The positive rates of HSP70 expression in the HCC tissue was 57％ (38/67),which was significantly higher than 24％ (5/21) in the normal liver tissue ( x2 =6.929,P ＜ 0.05 ).The expression of HSF1 protein in the HCC tissue was positively correlated with that of HSP70 (r=0.319,P ＜0.05).The high expression of HSF1 protein was correlated with the integrity of capsule of HCC,tumor differentiation and TNM stage (x2 =5.935,9.762,5.159,11.267,P＜0.05 ),while the high expression of HSF1 protein was not correlated with the gender,age,levels of hepatitis B surface antigen and alpha fetoprotein,and portal vein tumor thrombus ( x2 =0.822,0.172,2.059,P ＞0.05 ).The survival time was (21.4 ± 1.9 )months for patients with positive HSF1 protein expression and (29.8 ± 2.7 ) months for patients with negative HSF1 protein expression.There was a significant difference in the survival time between patients with positive and negative HSF1 protein expression ( x2 =4.276,P ＜ 0.05 ).Conclusions HSF1 is correlated with the development,advancement,invasion,metastasis and malignant prognosis of HCC.HSF1 takes effects by regulating the expression of HSP70,and it has a good perspective of clinical application for the diagnosis and treatment of HCC. Key words: Liver neoplasms; Heat shock transcription factor 1; Heat shock protein 70; Immunohistochemistry