Bacterial Heat Shock Proteins: It’s role in immunity as potent antigen and as

Introduction Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are among the most highly conserved protein families in all forms of life. Although referred to as heat shock proteins, most of these proteins are expressed at significant levels all cells under normal growths conditions and are essential for cellular growth at all physiologically relevant temperatures. Heat shock proteins perform important functions in the folding of proteins, their translocation across different compartments w complexes. Heat shock proteins are also termed as molecular chaperones. Increased synthesis of heat shock proteins occurs in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells when they are exposed to stress conditions such as hypoxia, nutrient deprivation, oxygen radicals, metabolic disruption, viral infection, phagocytosis and transformation. As much as 15% of prokaryotic cellular protein mass is constituted by heat shock proteins under conditions of stress. The increase protect themselves from the various lethal assaults. The protection that the heat shock proteins offer to cells is primarily through their properties as molecular chaperones, whereby they uncontrolled protein unfolding that occurs under conditions of stress. Heat shock proteins thus play a major role in cell protection following different stressful stimuli. Another form of stress occurs upon invasion of a foreign host by environment result in an increase in the cellular content of heat shock proteins within the pathogen. The host reacts to the assault by pathogens by rapidly degrading the foreign heat shock proteins. These heat shock protein derived determinants therefore form a major group of antigens inducing strong humoral -IJBLS)