If the temperature rises, the living organism reacts to this by producing peculiar compounds called “heat shock proteins”. This is how a person reacts, how a cat reacts, how any creature reacts, since it consists of living cells. However, not only an increase in temperature provokes the synthesis of heat shock protein of chlamydia, other species. Often severe stresses provoke situations.
general information
Since heat shock proteins are produced by the body only in specific situations, they have a number of differences from normally produced compounds. The period of their formation is characterized by inhibition of expression of the main protein pool, which plays an important role for metabolism.
HSP-70 eukaryotes, DnaK prokaryotes - this is such a family in which scientists have combined heat shock proteins that are significant for survival at the cellular level. This means that thanks to such compounds, the cell can continue to function even in situations where stress, heat, an aggressive environment oppose this. However, the proteins of this family can also participate in processes occurring under normal conditions.
Microscopic biology
If the domains are 100% identical, then eukaryotes, prokaryotes are more than 50% homologous. Scientists have proved that in nature, among all protein groups, exactly 70 kDa of HSP is one of the most conservative. Research devoted to this was done in 1988 and 1993. It is possible to explain the phenomenon through the chaperone functionality inherent in heat shock proteins in intracellular mechanisms.
How it works?
If we consider eukaryotes, then under the influence of heat shock, HSP genes are induced. If some cell escapes stressful conditions, then factors are present in the nucleus, the cytoplasm as monomers. Such a compound does not exhibit DNA binding activity.
Undergoing stressful conditions, the cell behaves as follows: Hsp70 is cleaved, which initiates the production of denatured proteins. HSP forms trimmers, activity changes its character and affects DNA, which leads to the accumulation of components in the cell nucleus over time. The process is accompanied by a multiple increase in the transcription of chaperones. Of course, the situation that provoked this over time passes, and by the time this happens, Hsp70 can again be included in the HSP. The activity associated with DNA comes to naught, the cell continues to work, as if nothing had happened. Such a sequence of events was identified back in 1993 in studies on HSP conducted by Morimoto. If the body is affected by bacteria, then HSP can concentrate on the synovial membrane.
Why and why?
Scientists were able to identify that HSPs are formed as a result of the influence of a variety of negative situations that are dangerous for the life of the cell. Stressful, damaging influences from the outside can be extremely diverse, but leading to the same option. Due to HSP, the cell survives under the influence of aggressive factors.
It is known that HSPs are divided into three families. In addition, scientists have revealed that there are antibodies to heat shock protein. The subdivision into HSP groups is made taking into account the molecular weight. Three categories: 25, 70, 90 kDa. If in a living organism there is a normally functioning cell, then inside it there are likely to be various proteins mixed together, quite similar. Thanks to HSP, denatured proteins, as well as curdled incorrectly, can again become a solution. However, in addition to this function, there are some others.
What we know and what we guess
Until now, the protein of heat shock of chlamydia, as well as other HSPs, has not been fully studied. Of course, there are some groups of proteins about which scientists have a fairly large amount of data, but there are those that have yet to be mastered. But already now science has reached the point where knowledge will allow us to say that in oncology heat shock proteins can be a really useful tool to defeat one of the most terrible diseases of our century - cancer.
Scientists have the largest amount of data on Hsp70 HSP, which can enter into relations with various proteins, aggregates, complexes, even with abnormal ones. Over time, release occurs, followed by an ATP compound. This means that a solution appears in the cell again, and proteins that have undergone an incorrect coagulation process can be subjected to this operation again. Hydrolysis, ATP compound - the mechanisms that made this possible.
Anomalies and norms
It is difficult to overestimate the role of heat shock proteins for living organisms. Any cell always contains abnormal proteins, whose concentration can increase, if there are external reasons for this. A typical story is an overheating or infection. This means that in order to continue the life of the cell, it is urgently necessary to generate a larger amount of HSP. The transcription mechanism is activated, which initiates the production of proteins, the cell adjusts to changing conditions and continues to function. However, along with the already known mechanisms, much remains to be discovered. In particular, antibodies to the chlamydial heat shock protein are such a rather large field for scientists.
HSP, when the polypeptide chain grows, and they find themselves in conditions that make it possible to enter into a bond with it, avoid non-specific aggregation and degradation. Instead, the folding occurs in normal mode, when the necessary chaperones are involved in the process. Hsp70 is additionally required when unfolding polypeptide chains involving ATP. By means of HSP, it is possible to achieve that non-polar regions are also affected by enzymes.
HSP and medicine
In Russia, FMBA scientists were able to create a new drug by using heat shock protein for its construction. The cancer medicine, presented by researchers, has already passed the initial test on experimental rodents affected by sarcomas, melanomas. These experiments allowed us to confidently say that a significant step forward was made in the fight against oncology.
Scientists have suggested and were able to prove that heat shock protein is a medicine, or rather, can become the basis for an effective drug, largely due to the fact that these molecules are formed in stressful situations. Since they are initially produced by the body in order to ensure cell survival, it was suggested that, with proper combination with other agents, even a tumor can be fought.
HSP helps the drug detect diseased cells in a sick body and cope with the incorrect DNA in them. It is believed that the new drug will be equally effective for any subtype of malignant diseases. It sounds like a fairy tale, but doctors go even further - they suggest that the cure will be available at any stage. You must admit that such a protein of heat shock from cancer, when it passes all the tests and confirms its reliability, will become an invaluable acquisition for human civilization.
Diagnose and treat
The most detailed information about the hope of modern medicine was told by Dr. Simbirtsev, one of those who worked on the creation of the medicine. From his interview you can understand by what logic the scientists built the drug and how it should bring effectiveness. In addition, it can be concluded whether the heat shock protein has already passed clinical trials or is yet to come.
As mentioned earlier, if the body does not survive stressful conditions, then BS production takes place in an extremely small volume, but it increases significantly with a change in external influence. At the same time, the normal human body is not able to produce such an amount of HSP that would help defeat the emerging malignant neoplasm. "And what happens if you enter the HSP from the outside?" - Scientists thought and made this idea the basis for research.
How should this work?
To create a new medicine, scientists in the laboratory recreated everything necessary for living cells to start producing HSP. For this, a human gene was obtained that underwent cloning using the latest equipment. The bacteria studied in the laboratories mutated until they began to independently produce a protein so desired by scientists.
Scientists based on the information obtained during the research made conclusions about the effect of HSP on the human body. To do this, I had to organize an x-ray structural analysis of the protein. To do this is not easy: I had to send samples to the orbit of our planet. This is due to the fact that terrestrial conditions are not suitable for the correct, uniform development of crystals. But space conditions allow the receipt of precisely those crystals that scientists needed. Upon returning to their home planet, the experimental samples were divided between Japanese and Russian scientists who took up their analysis, as they say, without losing a second.
And what did you find?
While work in this direction is still underway. A representative of a group of scientists said that it was possible to establish precisely: there is no exact connection between the HSP molecule and the organ or tissue of a living creature. And this speaks of universality. This means that if the heat shock protein is used in medicine, it will become a panacea immediately for a huge number of diseases - no matter what organ is affected by a malignant neoplasm, it can be cured.
Initially, scientists made the drug in liquid form - it is injected into experimental subjects. Rats and mice were taken as the first specimens to test the drug. It was possible to identify cases of cure both in the initial and late stages of the development of the disease. The current stage is called preclinical trials. Scientists estimate the completion date of at least a year. After that, the time for clinical trials will come. On the market, a new tool, possibly a panacea, will be available in 3-4 years. However, as noted by scientists, all this is real only if the project finds funding.
Wait or not wait?
Of course, the promises of doctors sound attractive, but at the same time they justly cause distrust. How long has mankind suffered from cancer, how many victims of this disease have been in the past few decades, and here they promise not just an effective drug, but a real panacea - from any kind, at any time. But how can one believe in that? And worse than that - to believe, but not wait, or wait, but it turns out that the remedy is not at all as good as it was expected, as promised.
The development of the drug is a genetic engineering technique, that is, the most advanced field of medicine as a science. This means that, with due success, the results should indeed be impressive. However, at the same time, this means that the process is extremely expensive. As a rule, investors are willing to invest quite a lot of money in promising projects, but when the subject is so loud, the pressure is great and the time frame is quite blurred, the risks are estimated as huge. It now sounds optimistic forecasts for 3-4 years, but all market experts are well aware of how often the time frame spreads to decades.
Amazing, unbelievable ... or still?
Biotechnology is an area closed to understanding for the average person. Therefore, we can only rely on the words "the success of preclinical trials." The working name of the drug was "Heat shock protein." However, HSP is only the main component of the drug, which promises to be a breakthrough in the market of drugs against oncology. In addition to it, the composition is supposed to include a number of useful substances, which will guarantee the effectiveness of the product. And all this became possible due to the fact that the latest HSP studies have shown that the molecule not only helps to protect living cells from damage, but is also a kind of “pointing finger” for immunity, which helps to identify which cells are affected by the tumor and which are not. Simply put, when HSPs appear in the body in a sufficiently high concentration, as scientists hope, the immune response itself will destroy the diseased elements.
Hope and wait
Summing up, we can say that the novelty against the tumor is based on the fact that the body itself has a tool that could destroy the neoplasm, just by nature it is rather weak. The concentration is so small that one cannot even dream of any therapeutic effect. At the same time, HSPs are partially located in cells that are not affected by the tumor, and the molecule will not “go away” from them. Therefore, it is necessary to supply a useful substance from the outside - so that it further directively affects the affected elements. By the way, while scientists suggest that the drug will not even have side effects - and this is with such high results! And they explain this “magic” by the fact that studies have shown that there is no toxicity. However, final conclusions will be made when preclinical trials come to an end, which will require at least a year.