Laboratory of Diabetic Nephropathy, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Corso Dogliotti 14, 10126 Turin, Italy.
Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Turin, Corso Raffaello 30, 10125 Turin, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2017 Dec 14;18(12):2709. doi: 10.3390/ijms18122709.
Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are a large family of proteins highly conserved throughout evolution because of their unique cytoprotective properties. Besides assisting protein refolding and regulating proteostasis under stressful conditions, HSPs also play an important role in protecting cells from oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis. Therefore, HSPs are crucial in counteracting the deleterious effects of hyperglycemia in target organs of diabetes vascular complications. Changes in HSP expression have been demonstrated in diabetic complications and functionally related to hyperglycemia-induced cell injury. Moreover, associations between diabetic complications and altered circulating levels of both HSPs and anti-HSPs have been shown in clinical studies. HSPs thus represent an exciting therapeutic opportunity and might also be valuable as clinical biomarkers. However, this field of research is still in its infancy and further studies in both experimental diabetes and humans are required to gain a full understanding of HSP relevance. In this review, we summarize current knowledge and discuss future perspective.
热休克蛋白（HSPs）是一大类蛋白质，由于其独特的细胞保护特性，在进化过程中高度保守。除了在应激条件下协助蛋白质重折叠和调节蛋白稳态外，HSPs 在保护细胞免受氧化应激、炎症和细胞凋亡方面也起着重要作用。因此，HSPs 在对抗糖尿病血管并发症靶器官中高血糖的有害影响方面至关重要。在糖尿病并发症中已经证明了 HSP 表达的变化，并且与高血糖诱导的细胞损伤功能相关。此外，临床研究还表明糖尿病并发症与 HSP 和抗 HSP 的循环水平改变之间存在关联。因此，HSP 代表了一个令人兴奋的治疗机会，也可能作为有价值的临床生物标志物。然而，该研究领域仍处于起步阶段，需要在实验性糖尿病和人类中进一步研究，以充分了解 HSP 的相关性。在这篇综述中，我们总结了目前的知识，并讨论了未来的前景。
