Antitumor effect of reduction of 150-kDa oxygen-regulated protein expression on human prostate cancer cells

Heat shock proteins (HSPs)/stress proteins are molecular chaperones that are induced by various environmental and physiological stimuli. Evidence of the relations between the expression of HSPs and the regulation of cell growth or transformation has accumulated. The 150-kDa oxygen-regulated protein (ORP150), a new member of HSP family, functions as a molecular chaperone in the endoplasmic reticulum. We have examined whether transduced antisense ORP150 cDNA reduces tumorigenicity and angiogenicity. Relations between these stress proteins and cancer and possibilities for anticancer gene therapy are described.