The Clinicopathological Significance of Heat Shock Protein 70 and Glutamine Synthetase Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background/purpose: Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) and glutamine synthetase (GS) have been proposed to be promising markers for the differentiation of malignant and benign hepatocellular lesions. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinicopathological significance of the expression of HSP70 and GS in surgically resected hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: The authors collected 412 HCC samples and 120 non-neoplastic hepatic tissue samples and performed an immunohistochemical study.

Results: HSP70 staining was observed in 282 of 392 HCC samples (71.9%), and GS immunoreactivity was observed in 212 of 395 HCC cases (53.7%). Of the several clinicopathological parameters examined, microscopic vascular invasion, a large tumor size, and a high Edmonson-Steiner grade were found to be correlated with positive staining for HSP70 (P = 0.032, 0.002, and 0.012, respectively). Survival analysis showed a correlation between HSP70 expression and disease-free survival. GS was not found to be related to clinicopathological parameters.

Conclusions: The findings of the present study suggest that HSP70 be viewed as a predictor of prognosis as well as a useful diagnostic marker for HCC.