Expression of heat shock proteins HSP70 and HSP27 in primary non-small cell lung carcinomas. An immunohistochemical study.

The present study was undertaken to determine the expression pattern of the hsp70 and the hsp27 genes in 106 cases of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). We have shown that in the majority of cases (95/106) the HSP70 immunoreactivity was localized both in the cytoplasm and the nuclei. We also observed an enhanced nuclear immunoreaction for HSP70 in dysplastic lesions and in stage I tumors. In the case of the HSP27 we found a positive cytoplasmic immunostaining in 70% of cases, with the highest score in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). We noted a positive correlation between the expression level of HSP27 and HSP70. There was a correlation between Ki-67 proliferation index and nuclear HSP70 staining, but not for HSP27. No association between the HSPs and the expression of pRb p16 and p21WAF1/CIP1 and p53 was found as studied previously. An interesting and statistically significant relationship was found between the expression of cyclin D1 and high intensity of HSP27 and HSP70 immunostaining. The relation of our results concerning the expression pattern of the HSP70 and HSP27 in NSCLC to those obtained by others for different types of primary tumors is discussed.