Hsp72 overexpression accelerates the recovery from acute pancreatitis

Background and aims: Heat shock protein (Hsp) 72 is a molecular chaperone which is upregulated in response to a variety of stress situations and has a general cytoprotective function. Recent data suggest that increased Hsp72 levels may protect from acute pancreatitis; a hypothesis which was not tested in a transgenic mouse model yet. Methods: To analyze the role of Hsp72 during acute pancreatitis, well-characterized transgenic animals overexpressing rat Hsp72 (Hsp72 mice) under the control of the β-actin promoter were subjected to seven hourly injections with caerulein. Hsp72 expression and localization was anal…