Postepy Hig Med Dosw 2015; 69:1149-1168 "Heat shock protein HSP60 and the perspective for future using as vaccine antigens"

Heat Shock Proteins (HSPs) are widely spread in nature, highly conserved proteins, found in all prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. HSPs have been classified in 10 families, one of them is the HSP60 family. HSP60 function in the cytoplasm as ATP-dependent molecular chaperones by assisting the folding of newly synthesised polypeptides and the assembly of multiprotein complexes. There is a large amount of evidence which demonstrate that HSP60 is expressed on the cell surface. Especially in bacteria the expression on the surface occurs constitutively and increases remarkably during host infection. HSP60 also play an important role in biofilm formation. In the extracellular environment, HSP60 alone or with self or microbial proteins can acts not only as a link between immune cells, but also as a coordinator of the immune system activity. This protein could influence the immune system in a different way because they act as an antigen, a carrier of other functional molecules or as a ligand for receptor. They are able to stimulate both cells of the acquired (naïve, effector, regulatory T lymphocyte, B lymphocyte) and the innate (macrophages, monocytes, dendritic cells) immune system. HSPs have been reported to be potent activators of the immune system and they are one of the immunodominant bacterial antigens they could be a good candidate for a subunit vaccine or as an adjuvant.
Source: Postepy higieny i medycyny doswiadczalnej - Category: Research Tags: Review article Source Type: research