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Updated: May 9, 2026
07:56
Protocol for Long Duration Whole Body Hyperthermia in Mice
Published on: August 25, 2012
Fever, hyperthermia and the heat shock response
Ishwar S Singh1, Jeffrey D Hasday
1Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. isingh@umaryland.edu
Summary
Fever and heat shock response share common pathways, activating heat shock factor-1 to modify host defenses during infection. This review explores how fever-induced hyperthermia modulates innate immunity and gene expression.
Area of Science:
- Physiology
- Immunology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- The heat shock response is a primitive survival mechanism against various stresses.
- Fever, a more recent evolutionary response, involves raising body temperature during infections.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review studies on the overlap between febrile and heat shock responses.
- To explore how fever modifies host defenses during infection, inflammation, and injury.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on heat shock response and fever.
- Analysis of studies investigating shared transcriptional programs and molecular pathways.
Main Results:
- Both fever and heat shock activate common transcriptional programs, including heat shock factor-1.
- Febrile hyperthermia modifies innate immune responses, affecting cytokine/chemokine expression and immune cell mobilization.
- Pro-inflammatory agonists can modulate heat shock-induced gene expression, indicating reciprocal regulation.
Conclusions:
- Fever utilizes elements of the heat shock response pathway to enhance host defense mechanisms.
- There is a complex interplay between inflammatory pathways and the heat shock response during infection and injury.
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