Altered Expression of High Molecular Weight Heat Shock Proteins after OCT4B1 Suppression in Human Tumor Cell Lines

OCT4B1, a novel variant of OCT4, is expressed in cancer cell lines and tissues. Based on our previous reports, OCT4B1 appears to have a crucial role in regulating apoptosis as well as stress response [heat shock proteins (HSPs)] pathways. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of OCT4B1 silencing on the expression of high molecular weight HSPs in three different human tumor cell lines. In this experimental study, OCT4B1 expression was suppressed in AGS (gastric adenocarcinoma), 5637 (bladder tumor) and U-87MG (brain tumor) cell lines using RNAi strategy. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) array was employed for expression level analysis and the fold changes were calculated using RT2 Profiler PCR array data analysis software version 3.5. Our data revealed up-regulation of HSPD1 (from HSP60 family) as well as HSPA14, HSPA1L, HSPA4, HSPA5 and HSPA8 (from HSP70 family) following OCT4B1 knock-down in all three cell lines. In contrast, the expression of HSP90AA1 and HSP- 90AB1 (from HSP90 family) as well as HSPA1B and HSPA6 (from HSP70 family) was down-regulated under similar conditions. Other stress-related genes showed varying expression pattern in the examined tumor cell lines. Our data suggest a direct or indirect correlation between the expression of OCT4B1 and HSP90 gene family. However, OCT4B1 expression was not strongly correlated with the expression of HSP70 and HSP60 gene families.