Profile of Serum Heat Shock Protein-27 Level in Patients with Salivary Gland Tumor

Heat shock protein 27 (HSP₂₇) plays important roles in many cellular processes and has been implicated in different types of diseases such as cancers.

This study aimed to evaluate the serum level of HSP₂₇ in patients with salivary gland tumors and to determine its possible correlation with the prognosis of the disease.

This cross-sectional study was performed on 60 patients with sali-vary gland tumor including 16 pleomorphic adenoma, 33 adenoid cystic carcinoma, 6 mu-coepidermoid carcinoma, 5 acinic cell carcinoma, and 28 healthy control subjects. The con-trol cases were healthy blood donors who matched the study group in age and sex. Serum samples were obtained from the clotted blood and HSP₂₇concentrations were measured with sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Statistical analysis was performed by using one-way ANOVA, post Hoc test, independent sample t-test, and ROC analysis. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered as significant.

The mean serum level of HSP₂₇ was 3956.1±3830.1 (pg/ml) in patients with malig-nant salivary gland tumor, which was significantly higher than that in benign salivary gland tumor (752.2±485.6) and healthy controls (602.3±575.8) (p <0.001). However, there was no significant difference in the HSP₂₇ serum levels between the patients with benign salivary gland tumors and healthy controls (p= 0.2). No association was detected between the mean serum levels of HSP₂₇ and clinicopathologic factors such as age, sex, stage and nodal metas-tasis (p > 0.05), except for the tumor size (p= 0.04).

The HSP₂₇ concentration increased in patients with malignant salivary gland tumors. Moreover, the HSP₂₇ level was correlated with tumor growth, invasiveness, and diagnosability. Yet, larger clinical studies are required to explore its prognostic value.