Heat shock proteins regulates cardiomyocytes via Toll-like receptors.

he heat shock protein (HSP) family consists of HSP90, HSP70, chaperon-containing TCP1, small HSP (sHSP) and mitochondrial HSP60. Some of these are reported to be increased during heart failure, hypertrophy and ischemia.1 It is clear that HSPs function as chaperones in response to stress in cardiomyocytes.2 In addition, extracellular HSPs and those on the plasma membrane act as cytokines instead of chaperones: therefore, HSPs have been called “chaperokines”.3 Extracellular HSPs exert pro-inflammatory effects as cytokines, whereas intracellular HSPs exert antiinflammatory effect as chaperones. HSPs act on Toll-like receptors (TLRs) as cytokines, thereby activating the innate immune system in immune cells.4 Article p 2445