PURPOSE Ovarian carcinomas express the 60-kD heat-shock protein HSP-60 at widely varying levels in different tumors. The aim of this study was to determine whether there was a relationship between expression of HSP-60 and survival in patients with ovarian carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS Total RNA and DNA were prepared from 51 epithelial ovarian cancer tissue samples. The expression and structure of the HSP-60 gene were examined by Northern and Southern blot analyses using the carboxyl-terminal portion of this gene as a probe (0.89 kilobases [kb]). HSP-60 expression was correlated with overall survival by the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS The 2.3-kb HSP-60 message was detected in all samples, but there was marked variation from tumor to tumor. Patients were classified into two groups on the basis of HSP-60 expression: group 1 (n = 25) included patients with low expression, and group 2 (n = 26) consisted of patients with high expression. There were no significant differences between the groups with respect to age, cell type, pathologic grade, clinical stage, and previous treatment. After a median follow-up period of 17 months, Kaplan-Meier plots demonstrated a much better survival for group 1 (median, 46.8 months; 41% at 4 years) than group 2 (median, 22.1 months; 16% at 3.9 years), a difference that was highly significant by the Mantel-Haenszel test (P = .00183). Southern blot analysis of these samples showed no amplification or rearrangement of the gene. CONCLUSION The level of HSP-60 mRNA expression is a valuable prognostic factor in epithelial ovarian cancer. Variation in the level of expression is not due to amplification of this gene.
Plasma Concentration of Heat Shock Protein 27 and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: A Prospective, Nested Case-Control Study
