Presence of antibody against the inducible Hsp71 in patients with acute heat-induced illness

Antibodies against heat shock or stress proteins (Hsps) have been reported in a number of diseases in which they may be involved in the pathogenesis o f the disease or may be of use for prognosis. Heat-induced diseases, such a s heat cramps, heat exhaustion, or heat stroke, are frequent in hot working or living environments. There are still few investigations on the presence and possible significance of autoantibodies against Hsps in heat-induced i llnesses. Using an immunoblotting technique with recombinant human Hsps, we analyzed the presence and titers of antibodies against Hsp60, Hsp71, and H sp90 alpha, and Hsp90 beta in a group of 42 young male patients who present ed with acute heat-induced illness during training. We also examined the pr esence of antibody against Hsp71 in a second group of 57 patients with acut e heat-induced illness and measured the changes in titers of anti-Hsp71 ant ibodies in 9 patients hospitalized by emergency physicians. In the first gr oup of young persons exercising in a hot environment, the occurrence of ant ibodies against Hsp71 and Hsp90 alpha was significantly higher among indivi duals with symptoms of heat-induced illness (P < 0.05) than in the matched group of nonaffected exercising individuals. Moreover titers of antibody ag ainst Hsp71 were higher in individuals of the severe and mild heat-induced illness groups, the highest titer being found in the most severe cases. The results from the second group of 57 heat-affected patients exposed to extr eme heat were similar. Again, patients with the more severe heat-induced sy mptoms showed a significantly higher incidence of antibodies to Hsp71 than controls and the titer of anti-Hsp71 was higher in the severely affected gr oup. Finally, in a study of 9 patients, it was observed that the titer of a nti-Hsp71 decreased during recovery from severe heat symptoms. These result s suggest that measurement of antibodies to Hsps may be useful in assessing how individuals are responding to abnormal stress within their living and working environment and may be used as one biomarker to evaluate their susc eptibility to heat-induced diseases.