[Heat-shock proteins in myocardial ischemia].

Heat-shock proteins (HSP) are a group of highly conserved proteins, which production is induced as a intracellular response to different kinds of stresses. They are also included in the group of chaperones, which are involved in protein folding and refolding in the cells, stabilising of macromolecular structure and repairing of denatured proteins or promoting their degradation when damages are too advanced. Because of protective role of HSP on the cellular level, a lot of studies is focused on the place of HSP in cardioprotection. The exact mechanism of this activity is still unknown. The experiments provided convincing proofs that cardiomyocytes which were subjected to hyperthermia or many other stress factors were reacting increased synthesis of HSP what guaranteed protection against further, stronger episodes of different stresses. The problem, which is still actual, is finding the possibility of taking advantage of cardioprotective properties of HSP in the treatment. Such a situation is due to lack of noninvasive methods of inducing HSP expression. The present study is a kind of review of literature taking up this problem, starting with protocols using hyperthermia, through the pharmacological therapy and ending with molecular techniques and genetic engineering.