Heat Shock Protein - What you Need to Know

Heat shock protein is a normal component of a cell. It is the job of heat shock proteins to help maintain the structure and shape of cellular proteins during both times of stress and during times of regular functioning. Recently it has been discovered that these proteins also play an important role in identifying diseased cells.

The importance of heat shock protein is that it can possibly be used to develop cancer vaccines. This possible application was discovered by Pramod Srivastava about twenty five years ago. He built on the known facts that animals could be vaccinated against certain cancers by injecting neutralized cancer cells into the animal. However, little was known about how this vaccination actually worked. In order to discover how the injected neutralized cells worked to protect the animal against cancer Srivastava he dissected the neutralized cell removing each component of the cell. He then injected each of these parts into different mice and tested to see which part of the neutralized cell was responsible for protecting the animal against the development of the cancer. It turns out that the heat shock protein was the protective agent in the cell.

The first way that heat shock protein protects a cell is through intracellular activities. The main way that this protective heat shock proteins protect the body from cancerous or diseased cells is by identifying abnormal peptides inside the cell and handing them over to antigens which move the abnormal peptide outside of the cell. When the abnormal peptide is outside the body the body's immune system is alerted and the cell is surrounded and destroyed by the immune system.

When a cell is irreparably damaged by disease the cell ruptures and the these special proteins migrate outside of the cell. At this point the anti-cancer role of this protein is to alert the body's immune system that there is a serious problem. When the immune system sees that the HSP is outside of a cell it springs into action and attacks the problem, eliminating the damaged cell and scouring the local area for other problem cells.

Now that we know how HSPs can be used to vaccinate people against certain cancers an effective vaccination for many forms of cancers can now be developed. Unfortunately, while the basics of HSP and cancer vaccinations are know, it is still vary difficult to create an effective cancer vaccination. This is because cancer peptides vary from person to person and from cancer to cancer. This makes it nearly impossible to create a single vaccination for cancer. In response to this challenge many pharmaceutical companies have invested billions of dollars into the development of a series of cancer vaccinations that will be able to get around the variations found in the cancer peptides.

One technique that is currently under development is the extraction, modification, and utilization of cancer peptides harvested from individual patients. After neutralization of the cancer cells they are then injected back into the person. At this point the person's immune system should recognize the abnormal signals released by the personalized cancer peptides and it should then spring into action to eliminate the cells that have similar abnormal characteristics. Currently this technology is used by HSPPC-96 and HSPPC-70.

About The Author:
Keith lachance is a professional writer about health and proteins. At his website, http://www.proteinlive.com he provides advise and information about different types of proteins and their benefits. If you need more information about protein visit the website.

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Title:	Heat Shock Protein - What you Need to Know
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Heat Shock Protein - What you Need to Know