HSP27/Menin Expression as New Prognostic Serum Biomarkers of Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness Independent of PSA

Asma Bourefis; Hajira Berredjem; Omar Djeffal; Thi Khanh Le; Sophie Giusiano; Palma Rocchi

doi:10.3390/cancers14194773

HSP27/Menin Expression as New Prognostic Serum Biomarkers of Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness Independent of PSA

Cancers (Basel). 2022 Sep 29;14(19):4773. doi: 10.3390/cancers14194773.

Authors

Asma Bourefis¹, Hajira Berredjem¹, Omar Djeffal², Thi Khanh Le³, Sophie Giusiano⁴, Palma Rocchi³

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Applied Biochemistry and Microbiology, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Badji Mokhtar-Annaba University, Annaba 23000, Algeria.
² Private Medical Uro-Chirurgical Cabinet, Annaba 23000, Algeria.
³ Predictive Oncology Laboratory, Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Marseille, Inserm UMR 1068, CNRS UMR 7258, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Aix-Marseille University, 27 Bd. Leï Roure, 13273 Marseille, France.
⁴ Department of Pathology, Hôpital Nord, Chemin des Bourrely, Aix Marseille University, CEDEX 20, 13915 Marseille, France.

Abstract

The screening of PCa is based on two tests, the total PSA test and the rectal examination. However, PSA is not specific for PCa stage confirmation, leading in false positive result and involving PCa over-diagnosis and over-treatment. HSP27 and Menin have been found to be overexpressed in a wide range of human cancers. Recent studies showed how HSP27 interacts with and stabilizes Menin to lead PCa progression and treatment resistance. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the correlation of HSP27 and Menin molecular expression, and their prognosis value in PCa with respect to clinicopathological features. Elisa was employed to measure serum HSP27 and Menin concentrations in 73 PCa patients and 80 healthy individuals. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to determine HSP27 and Menin tissue expression in 57 tumors and 4 Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) tissues. Serum HSP27 expression correlated with its tissue expression in all PCa patients, whereas serum Menin expression correlated only with tissue expression in aggressive PCa patients. Moreover, the results showed a positive correlation between HSP27 and Menin either in serum (r = 0.269; p = 0.021) or in tissue (r = 0.561; p < 0.0001). In aggressive PCa, serum expression of HSP27 and Menin was positively correlated (r = 0.664; R = 0.441; p = 0.001). The correlation between HSP27 and Menin expression in tissue was found only in patients with aggressive PCa (r = 0.606; R = 0.367; p = 0.004). Statistical analysis showed that the expression of both biomarkers was positively correlated with the hormone resistance or sensitivity, tumor aggressiveness, metastasis, Gleason Score, death and did not significantly correlate with age and PSA. Survival was illustrated by Kaplan−Meier curves; increased HSP27 and Menin expression correlated with shorter survival of PCa patients (p = 0.001 and p < 0.0001, respectively). Accuracy in predicting aggressiveness was quantified by the Area Under the Curve (AUC) of Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC). We demonstrated that the combination of HSP27/Menin was statistically greater than PSA; it achieved an AUC of 0.824 (95% CI, 0.730−0.918; p < 0.0001). However, HSP27/Menin/PSA combination decreased the diagnostic value with an AUC of 0.569 (95% CI, 0.428−0.710; p = 0.645). Our work suggests the potential role of HSP27/Menin as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.

Keywords: Elisa; HSP27; IHC; Menin; prognosis; prostate cancer; tumor biomarkers.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Algerian Ministry of High Education and Scientific Research, under the National Research Projects CNEPRU: D01N01UN201320150015 and the Cancer Research Center of Marseille, INSERM, Institute Paoli-Calmettes, France.