Expression of heat shock protein 70 in the tissue of patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Introduction. Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is a common type of head and neck malignancy. Because of unsatisfactory results of therapy, development of new strategies for LSCC treatment is needed. It is believed that heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) is involved in pathogenesis of LSCC. Thus, targeting HSP70 seems to be promising strategy for laryngeal cancer treatment. Aim. The aim of the study was to assess the HSP70 concentration in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma specimens and its correlation with tumor volume and TNM staging. Material and methods. An ELISA method and a Bradford protein assay were used to evaluate the HSP70 concentration in peripheral blood cells, tumor tissue and lymph nodes from the patients suffering from LSCC. Results. We demonstrated that the HSP70 concentration is significantly different between examined compartments. The highest level was observed in peripheral blood, while the lowest was in the lymph nodes. The HSP70 expression was correlated to tumor volume. Conclusion. Our results showed varied expression of HSP70 in tissue from patients with LSCC, but there was no association between HSP70 concentration and TNM staging. Currently, application of HSP70 inhibition as a LSCC treatment could be rather associated with systemic blocking of this molecule than target inhibition in tumor tissue. However, further analysis on a larger group of patients is needed.