HSP90 is a potential risk factor for ovarian cancer prognosis: an evidence of a Chinese clinical center

Abstract

Abstract Background: The potential treatment effects of heat shock protein90 (HSP90) inhibitors in ovarian cancer (OC) are controversial. This research aims to investigate the relationship between the expression level of HSP90 in peripheral blood and the prognosis of OC patients, as well as the clinicopathological indicators related to prognosis. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analysed the clinicopathological indicators of OC patients who were admitted to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from 2017 to 2022. HSP90 expression in patient blood was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the correlation between HSP90 expression and OC prognosis was systematically investigated. Kaplan-meier methodwas used to draw the survival curve, and the average survival time and survival rate were calculated. The log-rank test and Cox model were used for univariate survival analysis, and the Cox proportional hazards model was applied for multivariate survival analysis. Based on the TCGA dataset of OC obtained by Cbioportal, Pearson’s correlation coefficients between HSP90 expression values and other mRNA expression values were calculated to conduct bioinformatics analysis. Results: According to the established screening criteria, 106 patients were selected as subjects. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay results showed that HSP90 was 50.94% overexpressed in patients with OC. According to the outcome of Kaplan–Meier curves, the results revealed that the high level ofHSP90 expression was suggested to poor prognosis (P = 0.000) of OC patients. Further more, the result of multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model analysis also predicted that high HSP90 expression (HR = 3.498, 95% CI =1.431-8.551, P = 0.000) was leaded to poor prognosis,which could be an independent prognostic factor for the prognosis of OC patients. Moreover, 100 genes screened by Pearson’s value associated with HSP90, which is participate in regulating pathway of ATFS target genes, PRAGC1A target genes and BANP target genes and enriched in metabolic processesof cell response to DNA damage stimulus, response to heat and protein folding. Conclusion: The overexpression of HSP90 is positively associated with OC mortality and is a potential prognostic indicator of OC.