High levels of heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) linked to poor prognosis in breast cancer patients, shows report. RELEVANCE: According to the American Cancer Society, approximately two-thirds of breast cancer patients have ER-positive tumors. HSF1 status may shed light not only on prognosis but also on how such patients might respond to specific therapies.
High levels of master heat shock protein linked to poor prognosis in breast cancer patients
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (October 31, 2011) - Whitehead Institute scientists report that patients whose estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancers have high levels of the ancient cellular survival factor heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) experience poor outcomes-including increased mortality.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately two-thirds of breast cancer patients have ER-positive tumors. Although ER-positive breast cancers are often associated with better outcomes than other breast cancer tumor types, including those that are negative for the HER-2 receptor and so-called triple negative breast cancers (those lacking estrogen, progesterone, and HER-2 receptors), patient prognoses can still vary widely.
"HSF1''s relationship to prognosis [in ER-positive patients] raises the interesting possibility for diagnostic applications-HSF1 levels may have a role in helping determine who will have a better outcome and possibly who will have a poorer response to certain drugs," says Sandro Santagata, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Whitehead Member Susan Lindquist and first author of the study whose results are published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The heat shock response, which is controlled by transcription factors like HSF1, enables cells to withstand temperature spikes and other stressors. Crammed with distorted and abnormal proteins, cancer cells are deviants that live in a tumor''s distorted landscape; a world lacking abundant nutrients and oxygen. To survive these exceptionally stressful circumstances, many cancer cells have usurped the normally beneficial heat shock response to support their existence.
Advertisement
Because of this strong link between HSF1 concentrations and prognosis, HSF1 testing could become a valuable part of the oncologist''s toolkit.
Advertisement
This research was supported by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, National Cancer Institute, Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (DoD-CDMRP) Breast Cancer Research Program, Public Health Service, Specialized Program Of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Breast Cancer from the National Cancer Institute, Department of Health and Human Services, GlaxoSmithKline, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, American Cancer Society New England Division-SpinOdyssey, Marble Foundation, and V Foundation for Cancer Research.
Source-Newswise