Heat shock proteins and cardiac protection.
The heat shock proteins (hsps) are expressed in normal cells but their expression is enhanced by a number of different stresses including heat and ischaemia. They play important roles in chaperoning the folding of other proteins and in protein degradation. In the heart a number of studies have shown that prior induction of the hsps by a mild stress has a protective effect against a more severe stress. Moreover, over-expression of an individual hsp in cardiac cells in culture or in the intact heart of either transgenic animals or using virus vectors, also produces a protective effect, directly demonstrating the ability of the hsps to produce protection. These findings indicate the potential importance of developing procedures for elevating hsp expression in a safe and efficient manner in human individuals using either pharmacological or gene therapy procedures.
Latchman
D S
DS
Institute of Child Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK. d.latchman@ich.ucl.ac.uk
D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018834:Chaperonin 60 / Q000502:physiology; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D018841:HSP90 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D019157:Ischemic Preconditioning, Myocardial; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000378:metabolism / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*
D018834:Chaperonin 60; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; D018841:HSP90 Heat-Shock Proteins; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins