The role of heat shock proteins in the stimulation of an immune response

Heat shock proteins (HSP) have been defined as immunodominant, although most of them are highly conserved and ubiquitously distributed. Members of the 60, 70 and 90 kDa HSP families are involved in important aspects of viral and bacterial infections, in autoimmune diseases and in cancer immunity. HSP act as immunological target structures either by themselves because of an unusual expression pattern, or they are carrier proteins for immunogenic peptides. In addition to a classical major histocompatibility complex (MHC) restricted T cell response, a major contribution in the recognition of heat shock proteins has been shown for non-MHC restricted effector cells including gamma/delta TcR positive T lymphocytes and natural killer (NK) cells.