Inducers and co-inducers of molecular chaperones

Abstract

Molecular chaperones, which are mostly heat- or stress-induced proteins (HSPs), not only regulatevarious cellular functions such as protein folding, refolding of partially denatured proteins, proteintransport across membranes, cytoskeletal organization, degradation of disabled proteins, andapoptosis, but also act as cytoprotective factors against deleterious environmental stresses. Recentstudies indicated that moderate overexpression of molecular chaperones could confer cells and tissuesstress tolerance and provide beneficial effects on various pathological states associated with proteinmisfolding and protein aggregation. Mild heat shock, transfection of HSP genes, and some chemicalcompounds are the major means of overexpression of molecular chaperones. In this review, wesummarize recent studies of chemical compounds that could induce or enhance the expression ofmolecular chaperones or HSPs.