Yang X D, Feige U
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, California 94305.
Experientia. 1992 Jul 15;48(7):650-6. doi: 10.1007/BF02118311.
Heat shock proteins (hsp) are highly conserved from bacteria to man. Bacterial hsp, with approximate molecular weights of 60 kDa (hsp60), are immunodominant antigens that are immunologically cross-reactive with their mammalian counterparts. Hsp molecules are therefore useful in studies of fundamental questions concerning immune responses to foreign as opposed to self antigens. The finding that immune responses to hsp are associated with both experimentally-induced and spontaneous autoimmune diseases in animals has prompted intensive research to assess the role of bacterial hsp as the etiological agents involved in the development of autoimmune diseases. Recent evidence from animal models of autoimmune disease has clearly demonstrated the involvement of hsp in both the pathogenesis and the immunoregulation of autoimmune diseases. Studies with arthritogenic and diabetogenic T cell clones have identified immunogenic epitopes of hsp. These have been shown to ameliorate adjuvant arthritis in Lewis rats, and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice. Such studies may have important therapeutic implications for the future treatment of human autoimmune disease.
热休克蛋白（hsp）从细菌到人类都高度保守。细菌的hsp，分子量约为60 kDa（hsp60），是免疫显性抗原，与它们的哺乳动物对应物存在免疫交叉反应。因此，hsp分子在研究针对外来抗原而非自身抗原的免疫反应的基本问题时很有用。对hsp的免疫反应与动物实验诱导的和自发的自身免疫性疾病相关这一发现，促使人们进行深入研究，以评估细菌hsp作为自身免疫性疾病发展中病因的作用。来自自身免疫性疾病动物模型的最新证据清楚地表明，hsp参与了自身免疫性疾病的发病机制和免疫调节。对致关节炎和致糖尿病T细胞克隆的研究已经确定了hsp的免疫原性表位。这些表位已被证明可改善Lewis大鼠的佐剂性关节炎以及非肥胖糖尿病（NOD）小鼠的胰岛素依赖型糖尿病（IDDM）。此类研究可能对未来人类自身免疫性疾病的治疗具有重要的治疗意义。
