Differential expression of heat shock proteins in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma
Yu-Xin Jiang, Jing Xu, Ang Li, Ping Wang, Ai-Jun Chen
Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) is a malignant tumor originating from keratinocytes in
the epidermis, which seriously affects people's life safety. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are molecular
chaperones that help maintain protein stability and are involved in tumor activities. However, there is
currently no systematic study of HSPs in CSCC. In this study, we used qPCR and WB to explore the
expression of 14 HSPs at mRNA and protein levels in human immortalized keratinocytes HACAT cells,
human CSCC cell lines COLO-16 and SCL-1 cells, and collected human CSCC samples for histological
verification. Eventually, we found that the expression levels of different HSPs in CSCC were different.
HSPB6, HSPB8 and HSPB11 showed no dysregulation in CSCC. HSPB4, HSPB5, HSPB7, HSPB10 and
HSP40 were significantly upregulated in CSCC cells, while HSPB1, HSPB9, HSP60, HSP70, HSP90
and HSP100 were significantly downregulated. In summary, we validated the expression of 14 common
HSPs in CSCC, which may lay the foundation for the study of HSPs in CSCC.
