Hani Z. Asfour, Mohamed H. AlQahtani, Khaled A. Balto and Sufian M. ElAssouli
Human breast cancers may over express heat shock protein (HSP) members, proteins which are involved in cell proliferation and differentiation as well as with disease prognosis and drug resistance. The expression of heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) in breast cancers correlates with stage of disease, the lower the stage, the higher the expression. Here, we studied the expression of HSP27 and HSP70 in 39 breast tumors to determine any correlation between HSPs expression and both grade and estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptors. Proteins expressions were determined immunohistochemically with specific monoclonal antibodies. Results showed that no significant association between tumor grades and the HSP27 expression, a weak HSP27 cytoplasmic immunostaining was visible in 13% of the tumors , moderate immunostaining in 31%, high in 15% and 41% of the tumors did not show any immunoreaction, on the other hand very significant relationship was found between tumor grades and the HSP70 expression (P<0.005).Weak and moderate staining was detected in 10% each, strong nuclear and cytoplasmic staining was observed in 77%. The expression of HSP 27 was not associated with the expression of ER or PR receptors (p<0.05). HSP70 expression associated well with the expression of ER (P<0.001) but not with the expression of PR (p<0.05). No significant relationship was found between tumor grade and steroid receptors. Our findings contribute to the better understanding of the role of heat shock proteins in breast cancer. Also, the role of steroid receptors in the induction of heat shock proteins
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