Heat shock proteins and glutathione-s-transferase pi related to drug resistance in cervical cancer

FANELLI M. A.; VARGAS ROIG L. M.; CUELLO CARRIÓN F. D.; CIOCCA D. R.

New Orleans, LA, USA.

Congreso; 92nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2001

American Association for Cancer Research

Heat shock proteins (hsps) and glutathione-s-transferase pi (GST-pi) have been involved in drug resistance. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether Hsp27, Hsp60, Hsp70 and GST-pi are related to drug resistance in cervical carcinoma patiens treated with induclion chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This prospeclive study involved 24 patients with stages IIb-lIlb cancer, 13 of them  were treated with cisplatin, bleomycin, 5 FU/ifosfamide (group 1), and 11 patients were treated with vinorelbine and ifosfamide (group 2). Pre- and post-chemoterapy paired biopsies frorn each patient were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Hsp27, Hsp60, Hsp70 and GST-pi levels were not significantly changed by any of the chemotherapies (biopsies taken approximately 30 days after the last chemotherapy cycle). In group 1 patients, those showing positive GST-pi levels presented progressive disease or death (P = 0.02, Fisher test). Overall survival (OS) curves showed statistically significant differences: patients with poor survival had high expression (>66%) of Hsp27 (P = 0.02), high expression (> 33%) of Hsp60  (P = 0.002), and positive expression of GST-pi (P = 0.03). Hsp70 levels did not correlate with OS. In group 2 patients, there were not statistically significant differences between the expression of the molecular markers studied and OS. These results suggest that Hsp27, Hsp60 and GST-pi may be involved in drug resistance to cisplatin based chemotherapy in cervical cancer patients treated with induction chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy.