On mechanisms that control heat shock transcription factor activity in metazoan cells

Induced and constitutive heat shock protein expression in the olfactory system—A review, new findings, and some perspectives

Heat shock, or stress, proteins (HSPs) are cellular proteins induced in response to conditions that cause protein denaturation, and their induction is essential for survival of such conditions. In the olfactory system we have found intense HSP expression occurs during normal processing of environmental odorants/inhalants as well as following hyperthermia and drug exposure. The HSPs involved include ubiquitin, HSP70, HSC70, and HSP25. Responses are both cell type- and stress-specific, occurring primarily in olfactory supporting cells and to some extent in Bowman's gland acinar cells. Responses to these stresses are not seen in olfactory sensory neurons. This article reviews those studies and the significance of their findings. It also discusses a distinct subpopulation of rat olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs), the 2A4(+)OSNs, found to be constitutively reactive with HSP70, the predominantly stress-inducible isoform of the 70 kD HSP family. Their high HSP70 expression appears to confer on the 2A4(+)OSNs an enhanced ability to survive damage-induced OSN turnover. New findings are also presented on HSP25-specific changes following olfactory bulbectomy. All data are discussed in the context of the overall olfactory and bioprotective functions of the olfactory mucosa.

The DNA-binding domain of yeast Hsf1 regulates both DNA-binding and transcriptional activities

The heat shock transcription factor (HSF) is a key regulator of the heat shock response. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the transcription activating ability of Hsf1 is repressed by its DNA-binding domain, but the detailed mechanism by which the inhibitory function is relieved in response to stress remains unknown. In this study, we isolated and characterized three hsf1 mutants with temperature-sensitive mutations in the DNA-binding domain. Two mutations inhibited DNA-binding activity, leading to decreased expression of target genes. The third mutation caused transcriptional defects without affecting DNA binding, and its suppressor mutation was located in a region important for sensing heat shock. These results indicate that the DNA-binding domain regulates both the DNA-binding and transcriptional activities of Hsf1, and suggest that these functions are located within discrete regions of the DNA-binding domain.

Heat shock proteins in cancer: diagnostic, prognostic, predictive, and treatment implications

Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are overexpressed in a wide range of human cancers and are implicated in tumor cell proliferation, differentiation, invasion, metastasis, death, and recognition by the immune system. We review the current status of the role of Hsp expression in cancer with special emphasis on the clinical setting. Although Hsp levels are not informative at the diagnostic level, they are useful biomarkers for carcinogenesis in some tissues and signal the degree of differentiation and the aggressiveness of some cancers. In addition, the circulating levels of Hsp and anti-Hsp antibodies in cancer patients may be useful in tumor diagnosis. Furthermore, several Hsp are implicated with the prognosis of specific cancers, most notably Hsp27, whose expression is associated with poor prognosis in gastric, liver, and prostate carcinoma, and osteosarcomas, and Hsp70, which is correlated with poor prognosis in breast, endometrial, uterine cervical, and bladder carcinomas. Increased Hsp expression may also predict the response to some anticancer treatments. For example, Hsp27 and Hsp70 are implicated in resistance to chemotherapy in breast cancer, Hsp27 predicts a poor response to chemotherapy in leukemia patients, whereas Hsp70 expression predicts a better response to chemotherapy in osteosarcomas. Implication of Hsp in tumor progression and response to therapy has led to its successful targeting in therapy by 2 main strategies, including: (1) pharmacological modification of Hsp expression or molecular chaperone activity and (2) use of Hsps in anticancer vaccines, exploiting their ability to act as immunological adjuvants. In conclusion, the present times are of importance for the field of Hsps in cancer, with great contributions to both basic and clinical cancer research.

Beating the heat: A translation factor and an RNA mobilize the heat shock transcription factor HSF1

Cells respond to stress via orchestrated modifications in gene expression; in a recent publication in Nature, Shamovsky et al. (2006) report that an RNA and a translation factor regulate the activity of a transcriptional activator essential to the mammalian heat shock response.

How do cells respond to their thermal environment?

Changes in growth temperature induce both activating and inactivating responses from cells, with the magnitude of the temperature change being among the factors that influence which type of response dominates. Aside from upregulated enzyme activity, induction of thermotolerance is the most widely studied and best understood activating response that cells exhibit following heat shock. Inactivating responses to heat shock that are of biomedical interest include heat radiosensitization and cytotoxicity. Interestingly, the activation energy for inducing thermotolerance, heat cytotoxicity, and radiosensitization all fall within a similar range of 120-146 kcal per mole. The relatively high activation energy for each of these responses suggests that they all involve a heat-induced molecular transition as a trigger, and several lines of research suggest strongly that protein denaturation is the common transition that triggers all three responses. Low levels of protein denaturation are sufficient to attract the 90 kDa heat shock protein (HSP90) such that it frees up heat shock factor 1, which then trimerizes to form an active transcription factor that upregulates expression of heat shock proteins. Upregulation of heat shock proteins and other heat-induced events result in the development of thermotolerance, which protects cells from subsequent exposure to heat shock and other stresses. A more severe heat shock increases protein denaturation proportionately and leads to aggregation of both denatured and native proteins. This results in inactivation of protein synthesis, cell cycle progression, and DNA repair processes such that cells either die or are sensitized to radiation and other cytotoxic events. The ultimate fate of cells following a heat shock depends upon the summation of the activation and inactivation events that are induced, which appears to be governed by the resultant magnitude of protein denaturation and aggregation. Treatments that stabilize cellular proteins against denaturation and aggregation reduce the magnitude of inactivating responses while increasing that of activating responses for a given heat shock (time at temperature), while treatments that sensitize proteins to denaturation and aggreation have the converse effect. These findings support the conclusion that the determinant of the cellular response to heat shock is the amount of heat-induced protein denaturation and aggregation and not the time at temperature.

Feedback regulation of the heat shock response

The heat shock response is triggered primarily by nonnative proteins accumulating in a stressed cell and results in increased expression of heat shock proteins (Hsps), i.e., of chaperones capable of participating in the refolding or elimination of nonnative proteins. Best known is the transcriptional part of this response that is mediated predominantly by heat shock factor 1 (HSF1). HSF1 activity is regulated at different levels by Hsps and co-chaperones and is modulated further by a number of mechanisms involving other stress-regulated aspects of cell metabolism.

Heat shock response: lessons from mouse knockouts

Organisms are endowed with integrated regulatory networks that transduce and amplify incoming signals into effective responses, ultimately imparting cell death and/or survival pathways. As a conserved cytoprotective mechanism from bacteria to humans, the heat shock response has been established as a paradigm for inducible gene expression, stimulating the interests of biologists and clinicians alike to tackle fundamental questions related to the molecular switches, lineage-specific requirements, unique and/or redundant roles, and even efforts to harness the response therapeutically. Gene targeting studies in mice confirm HSF1 as a master regulator required for cell growth, embryonic development, and reproduction. For example, sterility of Hsf1-null female but not null male mice established strict requirements for maternal HSF1 expression in the oocyte. Yet Hsf2 knockouts by three independent laboratories have not fully clarified the role of mammalian HSF2 for normal development, fertility, and postnatal neuronal function. In contrast, Hsf4 knockouts have provided a consistent demonstration for HSF4's critical role during lens formation. In the future, molecular analysis of HSF knockout mice will bring new insights to HSF interactions, foster better understanding of gene regulation at the genome level, lead to a better integration of the HSF pathway in life beyond heat shock, the classical laboratory challenge.

Role of HSF activation for resistance to heat, cold and high-temperature knock-down

Regulation of heat shock proteins (Hsps) by the heat shock factor (HSF) and the importance of these proteins for resistance to heat stress is well documented. Less characterized is the importance of Hsps for cold stress resistance although Hsp70 is known to be induced following long-term cold exposure in Drosophila melanogaster. In this study, a temperature-sensitive HSF mutant line was used to investigate the role of HSF activation following heat hardening, rapid cold hardening (RCH) and long-term cold acclimation (LTCA) on heat and cold resistance, and this was correlated with Hsp70 expression. In addition, the effect of HSF activation on high-temperature knock-down resistance was evaluated. We found a significantly decreased HSF activation in the mutant line as compared to a corresponding control line following heat hardening, and this was correlated with decreased heat resistance of the mutant line. However, we did not find this difference in HSF activity to be important for resistance to cold stress or high-temperature knock-down. The findings indicate that induction of stress genes regulated by HSF, such as Hsps, although occurring following LTCA, are not of major importance for cold stress resistance and neither for RCH nor high-temperature knock-down resistance in D. melanogaster.

Stress response in mesoangioblast stem cells

Stem cells are presumed to survive various stresses, since they are recruited to areas of tissue damage and regeneration, where inflammatory cytokines and cytotoxic cells may result in severe cell injury. We explored the ability of mesoangioblasts to respond to different cell stresses such as heat, heavy metals and osmotic stress, by analyzing heat shock protein (HSP)70 synthesis as a stress indicator. We found that the A6 mesoangioblast stem cells constitutively synthesize HSP70 in a heat shock transcription factor (HSF)-independent way. However, A6 respond to heat shock and cadmium treatment by synthesizing HSP70 over the constitutive expression and this synthesis is HSF1 dependent. The exposure of A6 to copper or to a hypertonic medium does neither induce HSP70 synthesis nor activation of HSF1, while a constitutive binding of constitutive heat shock element binding factor was found. Together, these data suggest that mesoangioblasts constitutively express HSP70 as an 'a priori' activation mechanism, while they maintain the ability to respond to stress stimuli.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs differentially affect the heat shock response in cultured spinal cord cells

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been shown to amplify the heat shock response in cell lines by increasing the binding of heat shock transcription factor-1 to heat shock elements within heat shock gene promoters. Because overexpression of the inducible heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) was neuroprotective in a culture model of motor neuron disease, this study investigated whether NSAIDs induce Hsp70 and confer cytoprotection in motor neurons of dissociated spinal cord cultures exposed to various stresses. Two NSAIDs, sodium salicylate and niflumic acid, lowered the temperature threshold for induction of Hsp70 in glia but failed to do so in motor neurons. At concentrations that increased Hsp70 in heat shocked glial cells, sodium salicylate failed to delay death of motor neurons exposed to hyperthermia, paraquat-mediated oxidative stress, and glutamate excitotoxicity. Neither sodium salicylate nor the cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor, niflumic acid, protected motor neurons from the toxicity of mutated Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD-1) linked to a familial form of the motor neuron disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Thus, treatment with 2 types of NSAIDs failed to overcome the high threshold for the activation of heat shock response in motor neurons.

Proteasome activity or expression is not altered by activation of the heat shock transcription factor Hsf1 in cultured fibroblasts or myoblasts

Heat shock proteins (Hsps) with chaperoning function work together with the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway to prevent the accumulation of misfolded, potentially toxic proteins, as well as to control catabolism of the bulk of cytoplasmic, cellular protein. There is evidence for the involvement of both systems in neurodegenerative disease, and a therapeutic target is the heat shock transcription factor, Hsf1, which mediates upregulation of Hsps in response to cellular stress. The mechanisms regulating expression of proteasomal proteins in mammalian cells are less well defined. To assess any direct effect of Hsf1 on expression of proteasomal subunits and activity in mammalian cells, a plasmid encoding a constitutively active form of Hsf1 (Hsf1act) was expressed in mouse embryonic fibroblasts lacking Hsf1 and in cultured human myoblasts. Plasmid encoding an inactivatible form of Hsf1 (Hsf1inact) served as control. In cultures transfected with plasmid hsf1act, robust expression of the major stress-inducible Hsp, Hsp70, occurred but not in cultures transfected with hsf1inact. No significant changes in the level of expression of representative proteasomal proteins (structural [20Salpha], a nonpeptidase beta subunit [20Sbeta3], or 2 regulatory subunits [19S subunit 6b, 11 Salpha]) or in chymotrypsin-, trypsin-, and caspaselike activities of the proteasome were measured. Thus, stress-induced or pharmacological activation of Hsf1 in mammalian cells would upregulate Hsps but not directly affect expression or activity of proteasomes.

Loss of Hsp70 in Drosophila is pleiotropic, with effects on thermotolerance, recovery from heat shock and neurodegeneration

The heat-shock response is a programmed change in gene expression carried out by cells in response to environmental stress, such as heat. This response is universal and is characterized by the synthesis of a small group of conserved protein chaperones. In Drosophila melanogaster the Hsp70 chaperone dominates the profile of protein synthesis during the heat-shock response. We recently generated precise deletion alleles of the Hsp70 genes of D. melanogaster and have used those alleles to characterize the phenotypes of Hsp70-deficient flies. Flies with Hsp70 deletions have reduced thermotolerance. We find that Hsp70 is essential to survive a severe heat shock, but is not required to survive a milder heat shock, indicating that a significant degree of thermotolerance remains in the absence of Hsp70. However, flies without Hsp70 have a lengthened heat-shock response and an extended developmental delay after a non-lethal heat shock, indicating Hsp70 has an important role in recovery from stress, even at lower temperatures. Lack of Hsp70 also confers enhanced sensitivity to a temperature-sensitive lethal mutation and to the neurodegenerative effects produced by expression of a human polyglutamine disease protein.

Gene bookmarking: keeping the pages open

'Gene bookmarking' is a mechanism of epigenetic memory that functions to transmit through mitosis the pattern of active genes and/or genes that can be activated to daughter cells. It is thought that, at a point before mitosis, genes that exist in an open, transcriptionally competent state are bound by proteins or marked by some kind of modification event. This is thought to facilitate the assembly of transcription complexes on the promoters in early G1, thereby ensuring that daughter cells have the same pattern of gene expression as the cell from which they derived. Little is known, however, about these 'bookmarking factors' and modifications or the mechanisms by which they mediate the transmission of transcriptional competence after mitosis is complete. Recent findings have provided new insights into the mechanisms, regulation and biological importance of gene bookmarking in eukaryotic cell function.

Spermatocyte-specific expression of constitutively active heat shock factor 1 induces HSP70i-resistant apoptosis in male germ cells

Spermatocytes, the most sensitive male germ cells to heat-induced apoptosis, do not respond to hyperthermia by inducing heat shock proteins (HSPs), including HSP70i, which has been previously shown to confer resistance to apoptosis in somatic cells. To dissect the mechanism of heat-induced apoptosis and to determine if we could protect spermatocytes by expressing HSP70i, we engineered transgenic mice that express in spermatocytes constitutively active heat shock transcription factor (HSF)1. Such HSF1 expression did not lead to transcription of inducible Hsp70 genes, but instead induced caspase-dependent apoptosis that mimicked heat shock-induced death of spermatogenic cells. Both mitochondria-dependent and death receptor-dependent pathways appear to be involved in such HSF1-induced apoptosis: the levels of Bcl-2 family proteins became increased, p53 protein accumulated and expression levels of caspase-8 and death-receptor-interacting proteins (including Fas-associated death domain protein and TNF receptor associated death domain protein) became elevated. Surprisingly, the constitutive spermatocyte-specific expression of HSP70i in double-transgenic males did not protect against such HSF1-induced apoptosis.

Two-dimensional gel analysis of the heat-shock response in marine snails(genus Tegula): interspecific variation in protein expression and acclimation ability

The degree to which temperature acclimation modifies the acute synthesis of the entire heat-shock protein (Hsp) complement is still unknown, but it may constitute an important mechanism for understanding the differences in acclimation ability among closely related ectothermic species that occupy widely varying thermal environments. In general, eurythermal (heat-tolerant)species modify physiological function in response to an increase in acclimation temperature to a greater extent than stenothermal (heat-sensitive)species. In the present work I used 35S-labelled amino acids and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis to test this assumption for how acclimation affects acute Hsp expression (referred to as phenotypic plasticity) in two heat-sensitive, low-intertidal to subtidal zone turban snails, Tegula brunnea and T. montereyi, in comparison to a heat-tolerant, mid- to low-intertidal zone congener, T. funebralis. I was able (i) to detect the synthesis of over 30 proteins in gill tissue,primarily in the 70 kDa range, in response to an increase in temperature(13°C, 24°C, 27°C and 30°C), (ii) to assess the effect of acclimation (13°C vs 22°C) on acute Hsp synthesis, and (iii)to compare this effect among the three Tegula congeners. After increasing acclimation temperature from 13°C to 22°C, synthesis of the most highly expressed Hsps decreased more in T. brunnea and T. montereyi than in T. funebralis. Two highly expressed proteins of molecular mass 71 and 74 kDa, however, were also synthesized constitutively at 13°C and changed with increasing acclimation temperature in all three species. Although similar in phenotypic plasticity, T. brunnea and T. montereyi synthesized either a 76 or a 72 kDa cluster of proteins,respectively, and differed in how acclimation affected the acute synthesis of several 77 kDa proteins. Thus, in Tegula, the effect of acclimation on Hsp expression is (i) Hsp-specific, (ii) dependent on a protein's expression pattern (constitutive and inducible vs only inducible),(iii) and is actually limited in the more eurythermal mid- to low-intertidal congener. These results contradict the general assumption that greater heat tolerance correlates with an increased ability to modify physiological function in response to acclimation.

Protein phosphatase 5 is a negative modulator of heat shock factor 1

The major stress protein transcription factor, heat shock factor (HSF1), is tightly regulated through a multilayered activation-deactivation process involving oligomerization, post-translational modification, and interaction with the heat shock protein (Hsp90)-containing multichaperone complex. Conditions of proteotoxic stress, such as heat shock, trigger reversible assembly of latent HSF1 monomers into DNA-binding homotrimers that bind with high affinity to cognate heat shock elements. Transactivation is a second and independently regulated function of HSF1 that is accompanied by hyperphosphorylation and appears to involve a number of signaling events. Association of HSF1 with Hsp90 chaperone complexes provides additional regulatory complexity, however, not all the co-chaperones have been identified, and the specific molecular interactions throughout the activation/deactivation pathway remain to be determined. Here we demonstrate that protein phosphatase 5 (PP5), a tetratricopeptide domain-containing component of Hsp90-steroid receptor complexes, functions as a negative modulator of HSF1 activity. Physical interactions between PP5 and HSF1-Hsp90 complexes were observed in co-immunoprecipitation and gel mobility supershift experiments. Overexpression of PP5 or activation of endogenous phosphatase activity resulted in diminished HSF1 DNA binding and transcriptional activities, and accelerated recovery. Conversely, microinjection of PP5 antibodies, or inhibition of its phosphatase activity in vivo, significantly delayed trimer disassembly after heat shock. Inhibition of PP5 activity did not activate HSF1 in unstressed cells. These results indicate that PP5 is a negative modulator of HSF1 activity.