Correlation between clinicopathology and expression of heat shock protein 72 in human primary lung carcinomas

Heat shock protein 72 (HSP72) is highly expressed in cancer tissues. Recent studies indicate the possible roles of HSP72 in the development and progression of different carcinomas, but detailed information is still ambiguous. The aim of the study is to investigate the correlation between clinicopathology and immunolocalization of HSP72 in human primary lung carcinoma. The expression of HSP72 was studied in 96 human primary lung carcinomas with or without metastasis, as well as in tissues adjacent to cancer by way of immunohistochemistry. The distribution of HSP72 immunoreactive was examined by continuous cell counting in restricted fields by pathology photograph analysis. HSP72 immunoreactivities were detected in 90 of 96 primary tumors (93.7%). The expression of HSP72 has a correlation with the differentiation of primary lung carcinoma. HSP72 expression in lung carcinomas with lymph node and organ metastasis was significantly higher than those with non-metastasis. The results indicate that there exists a significant correlation between the expression of HSP72 and the progression of primary lung carcinomas. HSP72 expression were significantly associated with the presence of tumor infiltration, lymph node and remote metastasis. The expression characters of HSP72 in primary lung carcinoma may contribute to study the pathogenesis and progression of lung carcinoma.   Key words: Heat shock protein 72, primary lung carcinoma, clinicopathology, prognosis.