Protein Expression & Cell Stress

Heat Shock Proteins

A comprehensive guide to cellular stress responses, protein chaperoning, and essential HSP research tools.

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are an essential, highly conserved family of proteins found in every living organism. While many are constitutively expressed to maintain baseline cellular homeostasis, HSPs were originally named because of their profound ability to protect cellular proteins during extreme heat.

It is now recognized that HSP expression is rapidly upregulated in response to a wide array of severe stressors, including extreme cold, UV exposure, pH changes, chemical toxicity, oxidative stress, nutrient deficiency, tissue damage, and disease (including cancer).

The genes responsible for the production of HSP proteins are capable of rapid synthesis when necessary. Transcription is tightly controlled by the heat shock factor family (such as HSF1, HSF2, and HSF4), which promote massive, rapid transcription during acute stress and halt the process once cellular homeostasis is restored. The main HSPs found in abundance following a stress event include HSP27, HSP60, HSP70, HSP90, and HSP110.

1. What Heat Shock Proteins Do

HSPs help to maintain the stability and functional integrity of the cellular proteome in numerous ways, operating within the cytosol, mitochondria, and endoplasmic reticulum (ER).

1

Protein Chaperoning & Folding

During external stresses, HSPs physically prevent delicate proteins from denaturing and actively refold denatured proteins. They form complexes with substrate proteins and each other to aid in the synthesis, assembly, folding, quality control, import, and export of peptides, while fundamentally preventing toxic protein aggregation.

2

Immune System Modulation

HSPs have been found to potently activate immune responses. Specifically, the HSP90 and HSP70 families act as intracellular peptide carriers, capable of presenting peptides derived from tumors or pathogens to alert immune cells to potential threats.

3

Signaling & Apoptosis Regulation

HSP90 is incredibly abundant, constituting up to 2% of the total protein volume within an unstressed cell. Complexes containing HSP90 are critical for the stabilization and activation of hormone receptors and key signaling kinases, while also playing a direct role in regulating cellular apoptosis.

2. Research & Clinical Significance

With such a wide range of functions and capabilities, HSPs have massive research potential across immunology, neurology, ageing, oncology, and cell signaling.

Clinical & Forensic Applications

Drug Targets & Vaccines: Heat shock protein-peptide complexes hold significant potential for use within novel immunotherapeutic vaccines and as direct oncology drug targets. Additionally, emerging research demonstrates that certain HSPs are actively regulated by statins.

Forensic Pathology: The extreme upregulation of HSPs during heat stress serves as a vital marker in the forensic analysis of tissues subjected to fire. An increased localized concentration of HSP strongly indicates that the individual was alive at the time the fire began.

3. Visualizing HSPs In Situ

Because HSPs are highly conserved and abundant, their identification and quantification via antibody binding is highly reliable. Below are examples of Biorbyt antibodies visualizing distinct HSP expression natively in tissues and cells.

Immunohistochemical staining of paraffin-embedded human placenta tissue using HSP90AB1 antibody (primary antibody at 1:200) - orb181647.

Immunofluorescence analysis of 3T3-L1 cells using HSP60 mouse mAb (green). Blue: DRAQ5 fluorescent DNA dye. Red: Actin filaments labeled with Alexa Fluor-555 phalloidin - orb69407.

4. Essential Heat Shock Protein Reagents

Biorbyt supports current and future research into heat shock proteins. We supply a wide range of high-quality products for your HSP research, helping you achieve robust and reliable results. Speak to our technical advisors who will be happy to help you choose the exact product needed to obtain accurate data for your specific application.

Cat. Code	Target Name	Product Type	Validated Applications
orb69407	HSP60	Primary Antibody	ELISA, FACS, ICC, IF, IHC-P, WB
orb2309966	HSP90AB1	Primary Antibody	ELISA, FACS, ICC, IF, IHC-P, WB
orb214065	HSP90AA1	Primary Antibody	ICC, IF, IHC-P, WB
orb86033	HSP-27	Blocking Peptide / Protein	SDS-PAGE
orb775477	Human HSP60	ELISA Kit	Sandwich ELISA
orb1817310	Dog HSP-70	ELISA Kit	Sandwich ELISA
orb406975	Human HSP-90α	ELISA Kit	Sandwich ELISA

View the Full HSP Catalog →