Cancer immunotherapy and heat-shock proteins: promises and challenges.
Recent mechanistic studies on the role of heat-shock proteins (HSPs) to induce innate and adaptive immune responses have resulted in conflicting reports. Whereas some groups reported that HSPs have direct immunological function, others emphasised the endotoxin contamination of HSP preparations and questioned the antigen-specificity of HSP vaccines. The present review will discuss these issues and suggest that HSPs have diverse and distinct immunological functions that could be superimposed on effects resulting from endotoxin contamination or misunderstood by using experimental procedures with inadequate controls. To understand the actual function of HSPs in their interaction with the immune system, methods and procedures need to be optimised and appropriate controls need to be used. These points should also clarify the conflicting findings about HSPs and promote our knowledge about other immuologically important components that may be present in HSP preparations.
Department of Cellular Stress Biology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Elm & Carlton Streets, Buffalo, NY 14263, USA. masoud.manjili@roswellpark.org
Masoud H
MH
Manjili
Xiang-Yang
XY
Wang
Ian J
IJ
MacDonald
Hilal
H
Arnouk
Gary Y
GY
Yang
Michele T
MT
Pritchard
John R
JR
Subjeck
D000818:Animals; D017951:Antigen Presentation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins