Roles of heat-shock proteins in innate and adaptive immunity.
Heat-shock proteins (HSPs) are the most abundant and ubiquitous soluble intracellular proteins. In single-cell organisms, invertebrates and vertebrates, they perform a multitude of housekeeping functions that are essential for cellular survival. In higher vertebrates, their ability to interact with a wide range of proteins and peptides--a property that is shared by major histocompatibility complex molecules--has made the HSPs uniquely suited to an important role in organismal survival by their participation in innate and adaptive immune responses. The immunological properties of HSPs enable them to be used in new immunotherapies of cancers and infections.
Srivastava
Pramod
P
Center for Immunotherapy of Cancer and Infectious Diseases, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut 06030-1601, USA. srivastava@nso2.uchc.edu
D000818:Animals; D017951:Antigen Presentation; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000502:physiology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D007167:Immunotherapy; D007239:Infections / Q000628:therapy; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D014611:Vaccination
D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins