The molecular chaperone heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) is required for the activity and stability of its client proteins. Pharmacologic inhibition of HSP90 leads to the ubiquitin-mediated degradation of clients, particularly activated or mutant oncogenic protein kinases. Client ubiquitination occurs via the action of one or more E3 ubiquitin ligases. We sought to identify the role of Cullin-RING...

CD8(+) T cells recognize peptide fragments of endogenously synthesized antigens of cancers or viruses, presented by MHC I molecules. Such antigen presentation requires the generation of peptides in the cytosol, their passage to the endoplasmic reticulum, loading of MHC I with peptides, and transport of MHC I-peptide complexes to the cell surface. Heat-shock protein (hsp) 90 is a cytosolic chape...

OBJECTIVE Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling to endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) plays a central role in angiogenesis. In endothelial cells (ECs), heat-shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is also a regulator of eNOS activity. Our study is designed to determine whether modulation of the activator of Hsp90 ATPase 1 (AHA1) regulates the function of Hsp90 in ECs. METHODS AND RESULTS We show t...

Candida albicans is the leading fungal pathogen of humans, causing life-threatening disease in immunocompromised individuals. Treatment of candidiasis is hampered by the limited number of antifungal drugs whose efficacy is compromised by host toxicity, fungistatic activity, and the emergence of drug resistance. We previously established that the molecular chaperone Hsp90, which regulates the fo...

Inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase (iNOS) plays an important role in cell injury and host defense. While undetectable in normal tissues, iNOS expression is induced by endotoxins and inflammatory cytokines primarily via the IκB kinase/nuclear factor-κB (IKK-NF-κB) and Janus kinase (JAK)-signal transducers and activators of transcription 1 (STAT1) pathways. Our previous studies found that heat ...

The Tom70 import receptor on the mitochondrial outer membrane specifically recognizes Hsp90 and Hsc70, a critical step for the import of mitochondrial preproteins, the targeting of which depends on these cytosolic chaperones. To analyze the role of Hsp90 in mitochondrial import, the effects of the Hsp90 inhibitors geldanamycin and novobiocin were compared. Geldanamycin occludes the N-terminal A...

The zeta-associated protein of 70 kDa (ZAP-70) is expressed in patients with aggressive chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). We found that ZAP-70+ CLL cells expressed activated heat-shock protein 90 (Hsp90) with high binding affinity for Hsp90 inhibitors, such as 17-allyl-amino-demethoxy-geldanamycin (17-AAG), whereas normal lymphocytes or ZAP-70- CLL cells expressed nonactivated Hsp90. Activate...

Heat shock protein (Hsp)90 is emerging as an important therapeutic target for the treatment of cancer. Two analogues of the Hsp90 inhibitor geldanamycin are currently in clinical trials. Geldanamycin (GA) and its analogues have been reported to bind purified Hsp90 with low micromolar potency, in stark contrast to their low nanomolar antiproliferative activity in cell culture and their potent an...

The 90-kDa heat shock protein (Hsp90) is the most abundant molecular chaperone of the eukaryotic cytoplasm. Its cysteine groups participate in the interactions of Hsp90 with the heme-regulated eIF-2alpha kinase and molybdate, a stabilizer of Hsp90-protein complexes. In our present studies we investigated the reactivity of the sulfhydryl groups of Hsp90. Our data indicate that Hsp90 as well as t...

Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) alpha subunits are induced under hypoxic conditions, when limited oxygen supply prevents prolyl hydroxylation-dependent binding of the ubiquitin ligase pVHL and subsequent proteasomal degradation. A short normoxic half-life of HIF-alpha and a very rapid hypoxic protein stabilization are crucial to the cellular adaptation to changing oxygen supply. However, the mol...