Heat Shock Protein 60 and Cardiovascular Disease

摘要

The heat shock proteins (HSP) are a group of protective proteins, originally described in heat-shocked drosophila by Ritossa over 40 years ago, hence the name.(l) These proteins are both a stress response to a wide variety of injuries and stimuli, including heat, ischemia, hypoxia and stretch, as well as important proteins for normal cellular function. The HSPs have key roles in the cell including folding and unfolding of proteins for transport across membranes, assisting in protein synthesis by binding to newly transcribed peptides, stabilizing protein structure during injury and targeting irreversibly denatured proteins for removal from the cell. HSPs have an increasingly recognized role in cell signaling. HSP90 binds the intracellular hormone receptors, as well as src and other key kinases, and is essential for the function of these proteins. HSP90 also has a critical role in the function of eNOS.