Distinct prognostic roles of HSPB1 expression in non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality around world. Heat shock protein beta-1 (HSPB1) expression is aberrantly increased in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. However, the roles of HSPB1 expression in the prognosis of NSCLC are still elusive. In this study, we investigated the prognostic roles of HSPB1 in NSCLC by using “The Kaplan-Meier plotter” (KM plotter) database. Our data indicated that HSPB1 mRNA low expression was correlated to better overall survival (OS) for all NSCLC patients, hazard ratio (HR) 1.41 (1.24–1.61), p=1.1e-7, and better OS in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients, HR 1.81 (1.42–2.32), p=1.5e-06, but not in lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) patients, HR 1.21 (0.94–1.55), p=0.14. In addition, mRNA low expression of HSPB1 is also significantly associated with better OS of NSCLC patients in different smoking status, in different chemotherapy status, in clinical stage I & II, as well as patients with successful surgery treatment. Our results indicated that HSPB1 expression may have distinct prognostic values in NSCLC patients, and may provide an effective clinical strategy to accurately predict the prognosis of NSCLC patients.