Cytosolic Hsp70 as a biomarker to predict clinical outcome in patients with glioblastoma

INTRODUCTION: The major stress-inducible heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) is induced after different stress stimuli. In tumors, elevated intracellular Hsp70 levels were associated on the one hand with radio- and chemotherapy resistance and on the other hand with a favorable outcome for patients. This study was undertaken to investigate cytosolic Hsp70 (cHsp70) as a potential biomarker for progression free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with primary glioblastomas (GBM). METHODS: The cHsp70 expression in tumor tissue of 60 patients diagnosed with primary GBM was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. The cHsp70 expression was correlated to the PFS and OS of the patients. RESULTS: A high cHsp70 expression was associated with a prolonged PFS (hazard ratio = 0.374, p = 0.001) and OS (hazard ratio = 0.416, p = 0.014) in GBM patients treated according to the standard Stupp protocol with surgery, radiotherapy and temozolomide. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that the intracellular Hsp70 expression might serve as a prognostic marker in patients with primary GBM.