Heat shock proteins in the pathogenesis of inflammatory skin diseases

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are highly conserved molecules and distributed widely in nature. They are also distributed in the skin, however, only limited information is available on the role of HSPs in the skin diseases. Immunohistochemical study of HSPs in the skin revealed that HSPs are differently expressed in the epidermal cells of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), atopic dermatitis, graft versus host disease (GVHD) and so on. In normal healthy skin HSPs are constantly expressed in the epidermal cells. HSPs are expressed in the skin according to the influence of both external and internal milieu of the diseased conditions. Cytokines released in the skin strongly affect to express HSPs in epidermal cells. HSPs expressed in the skin can be targets for infiltrated T cells to modulate immune response of skin diseases. Roles of HSPs in the pathogenesis of SLE, GVHD, atopic dermatitis and psoriasis are discussed in this review. HSPs play an important role in the pathogenesis of many inflammatory skin diseases. They can be the molecules to evaluate both diseased conditions and inflammatory process of the skin diseases.