Constitutive and Induced Synthesis of Heat Shock Proteins in Transplantable Hepatomas

Expression of 27-kD heat-shock protein isoforms in human neoplastic and nonneoplastic liver tissues

Previous study of rat liver during chemically induced hepatocarcinogenesis has shown that expression of isoforms of the 27-kD heat-shock protein was greater in neoplastic nodules and in hepatocellular carcinoma than in control livers. In this study, various human neoplastic and nonneoplastic liver tissues were investigated with electrophoresis after amino acid labeling to evaluate the expression of 27-kD heat-shock protein isoforms. This revealed that human liver contains 27-kD proteins that are recognized by a polyclonal antibody raised against human 27-kD heat-shock protein. Basal levels of fluorographical and immunostaining intensity of the 27-kD heat-shock protein spots (respectively, after [3H]leucine or 32P incorporation or as checked with a specific human 27-kD heat-shock protein antibody) were higher in hepatomas than in non-tumorous liver. Phosphorylation patterns of the 27-kD heat-shock protein isoforms were, however, similar in hepatocellular carcinoma and in uninvolved surrounding liver. Heat inducibility of the 27-kD heat-shock protein, tested in one case of liver cell adenoma and in the surrounding liver, was also preserved in both tissues. The role of the overexpression of 27-kD heat-shock protein in neoplastic liver tissues remains unknown. We propose, as a working hypothesis, that it is related to the resistant phenotype acquired by some tumors during malignant progression.

Expression pattern of the genes for different members of the heat-shock protein 70 family, ornithine decarboxylase, and c-Ha-ras during the early stages of hepatocarcinogenesis

Northern blot analysis with specific probes indicates that, in the liver of normothermic rats under the carcinogenic regimen of Solt and Farber (Nature 263:701, 1976), diethylnitrosamine (DEN), 2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF), and partial hepatectomy (PH), either alone or in combination, do not induce the expression of the heat-shock protein 70 (hsp70) gene family. On the contrary, the inducibility of hsp70 mRNAs in the liver of heat-shocked animals is maintained throughout the treatment, as it is in nodules that are found in the liver 2 weeks posttreatment. The steady-state level of the constitutive hsp70-related cognate protein (hsc73) mRNA, which is known to be particularly high in fast-growing cells, increases above the normal level only during liver regeneration, stays at a high level up to 8 days after hepatectomy, independently of any associated exposure to carcinogenic chemicals, and is practically unchanged in the nodules. Ornithine decarboxylase mRNA increases only in livers of normothermic rats at 16 h of regeneration. The expression of the c-Ha-ras oncogene increases slightly, but steadily, during the carcinogenic treatment and persists at a high level when other changes have subsided.