Heat Shock Proteins (HSP) in Molecular and Cellular Biology of Human Diseases

The Biology of HEAT SHOCK PROTEINS and MOLECULAR CHAPERONES

Heat shock proteins and their role in human diseases

Elevated expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs) has been demonstrated following various forms of stress, such as heat, heavy metal or ethanol treatment, hypoxia, ischemia, and they are also upregulated in several diseases and infections, as their most important function is to protect cells from the harmful effects of stress. As molecular chaperones they regulate the biosynthesis, folding/unfo...

HDAC Inhibitors and Heat Shock Proteins (Hsps)

Epigenetic alterations, including DNA acetylation, hypermethylation and hypomethylation, and the associated transcriptional changes of the affected genes are central to the evolution and progression of various human cancers, including pancreatic cancer. Cancer-associated epigenetic alterations are attractive therapeutic targets because such epigenetic alterations, unlike genetic changes, are po...

Role of Epigenetics in Biology and Human Diseases

For a long time, scientists have tried to describe disorders just by genetic or environmental factors. However, the role of epigenetics in human diseases has been considered from a half of century ago. In the last decade, this subject has attracted many interests, especially in complicated disorders such as behavior plasticity, memory, cancer, autoimmune disease, and addiction as well as neurod...

Heat shock proteins in autoimmune diseases.

Heat shock proteins (hsp's) are among the most conserved proteins in evolution. They have been identified as important pathogen-related antigens as well as autoantigens suitable for construction of novel vaccines. The high evolutionary homology of hsp's has raised the question about the safety of such vaccines. Experimental and clinical observations have confirmed that hsp proteins are involved...