Abstract
Environmental and patho-physiologic stresses stimulate synthesis of heat shock proteins (HSPs) which enable the cell to survive and recover from stressful conditions, by as yet incompletely understood mechanisms. Heat shock proteins show an increased expression in a wide range of human cancers and have been associated with tumor cell proliferation, differentiation, invasion, metastasis, death, and recognition by the immune system. Yet the role of heat shock proteins in oral cancer is ambiguous. The objective of this review was to systematically assess the data available on the role of HSP expression in oral cancer with special reference to its role in diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. A systematic review of studies that investigated the HSP expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma using Scopus, Medline, Embase and Google scholar databases from their inceptions to 2013, without language restrictions was conducted. We selected 24 studies from which data extraction and validations were performed. The literature search revealed differential expression of HSPs during oral tumorigenesis with implications for the specific role of HSPs in the pathogenesis of oral cancer. HSP expression has been regarded as an independent prognostic factor for oral squamous cell carcinoma patients and HSPs are being explored as potent vehicles for delivery of preventive and treatment vaccines in cancer and other diseases.
Highlights
MATERIALS AND METHODSHeat shock proteins are a group of highly conserved proteins which first came to fame as gene products whose expression is induced by heat and other stresses[1,2]
In this article we have systematically reviewed the data available on the role of heat shock proteins (HSPs) expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) with special emphasis to their role in diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of the disease
Of these 17 research articles had used the immunohistochemical expression of HSPs in oral squamous cell carcinoma biopsy tissue, with 11 studies evaluating the concomitant HSP expression in dysplastic tissue and normal oral epithelium
Summary
MATERIALS AND METHODSHeat shock proteins are a group of highly conserved proteins which first came to fame as gene products whose expression is induced by heat and other stresses[1,2]. More recently the focus of research has shifted to understanding the roles of HSPs as molecular chaperones[3,4,5] They are known to play diverse roles, even in unstressed cells, in successful folding, assembly, intracellular localization, secretion, regulation, and degradation of other proteins[6]. Failure of these activities is thought to underlie numerous serious human diseases[7]. They endow tumor cells with stress resistance and promote growth and survival of tumor cells by engaging misfolded or aggregated proteins involved in cell proliferation They can promote tumor immunity by stimulating the innate immunity mechanisms and enhancing cross presentation of tumor antigens to lymphocytes[8]. HSP expression has been regarded as an independent prognostic factor for oral squamous cell carcinoma patients and HSPs are being explored as potent vehicles for delivery of preventive and treatment vaccines in cancer and other diseases
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