) Heat shock proteins aid cell survival under adverse conditions. Production of the 27 kDa (hsp27) and 90 kDa (hsp90) heat shock proteins is increased during malignant transformation and is associated with tumor proliferation, metastasis and resistance to chemotherapy. This increase heat shock protein expression and their association with tumor specific antigens may render hsp27 and hsp90 immunogenic. In initial studies on small numbers of women being evaluated for gynecologic cancers, and in whom cervical specimens were obtained prior to initial diagnosis, IgA antibodies to hsp27 were present in 85.7% of 21 women with endometrial cancer, 77.8% of 9 women with ovarian cancer and in 0% of 25 women with subsequent diagnoses of benign diseases. Cervical IgA antibodies to hsp9O were present in 33% of 37 women with ovarian cancer, 11% of women with endometrial cancer and in 0% of women with benign diseases. We now propose to evaluate in a much larger population (400) of women being seen for the first time for a possible gynecologic malignancy whether the presence of cervical IgA antibodies to hsp27 or hsp90 correlates with a subsequent diagnosis of ovarian or endometrial cancer, whether there is a difference in the relation between IgA 1 or IgA2 subclass antibodies and a diagnosis of ovarian or endometrial cancer, whether the presence of hsp27 or hsp9O antigen in cervical samples correlates with ovarian or endometrial cancer, whether ovarian or endometrial cancer patients with IgA antibodies to hsp27 or hsp90 or with hsp27 or hsp90 antigen differ from antibody and antigen negative patients with regard to stage of malignancy, cancer recurrence after treatment and length of survival and, lastly, whether hsp27 and hsp90 antibodies or antigens in the cancer patients is related to subjects' age, parity, race, presence of a gynecologic infection, past cancer history, type of tumor, tumor stage, family history of cancer. The results will allow for the evaluation of cervical immunity to hsp27 and hsp9O, as well as the presence of these antigens themselves, as sensitive, noninvasive biomarkers for gynecologic malignancies.
| Korneeva, Irina; Caputo, Thomas A; Witkin, Steven S (2002) Cell-free 27 kDa heat shock protein (hsp27) and hsp27-cytochrome c complexes in the cervix of women with ovarian or endometrial cancer. Int J Cancer 102:483-6 |
