Progress in the Mechanism of Heat Shock Proteins in Gastric Cancer: From Biomarkers to Therapeutic Targets

Background

Gastric cancer remains a major challenge in public health, with low early diagnosis rates and poor prognosis for advanced patients. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are highly conserved molecular chaperones that maintain proteostasis and promote cell survival under stress. Aberrantly elevated HSPs in gastric cancer are closely linked to tumor initiation, invasion, metastasis, and poor prognosis. This review aims to comprehensively synthesize the latest advances concerning HSPs in gastric cancer across three core dimensions: their utility as diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers, their regulatory mechanisms in key signaling pathways and the tumor microenvironment (TME), and their viability as therapeutic targets.