Abstract
Membrane-bound heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) was found to be tumor-specific and was proposed as a target for immunotherapy. In the present study, we analyzed cell surface and relative gene expression of HSP70 in cell lines established from patients with different acute myeloid leukemia (AML) subtypes, together with the expression of natural killer (NK) cell activation/inhibitory ligands.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Six AML cell lines were included in this study. The relative gene expression of HSP70 was analyzed using the real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.
Surface expression of HSP70 and NK cell ligands was analyzed using flow cytometry. RESULTS: All cell lines overexpressed HSP70; however, its mRNA levels were not elevated.
The expression of NKG2D activation ligands was heterogeneous. CONCLUSION: Our study is the first to describe long-term stationary cell surface expression of HSP70 in different subtypes of AML.
Combined with the results of the gene expression experiments these data provide more evidence to the idea of a self-limiting mechanism for HSP70 expression