The Multitasking Molecular Chaperone Hsp60: Structure, Function, and Impact on Health and Disease

The Multitasking Molecular Chaperone Hsp60: Structure, Function, and Impact on Health and Disease provides an overview of this key component of the Chaperone System (CS). The book covers various areas of medicine in which Hsp60 chaperonopathies have been identified. Various chapters discuss the Hsp60 structure, localization, functions, and participation in disease mechanisms both genetic and acquired, focusing on humans but also presenting data obtained from pro- and eukaryotic experimental models. The main goal is to provide information accessible to all healthcare professionals in a way that can be understood by nonspecialists and that would stimulate clinical and pathological detection of Hsp60 chaperonopathies.

Molecular mechanisms are briefly described with the purpose of illuminating roads toward accurate diagnosis, treatment, and patient monitoring. Consequently, the possibility of developing/applying chaperonotherapy centered on Hsp60, as a therapeutic tool or target, is analyzed in many sections of this book, across a variety of medical specialties. Over the last several years, the importance of the CS as a physiological system has been brought to prominence and its roles in health and disease made clear. The molecular chaperones, including Hsp60, are the key components of the CS that are typically cytoprotective, but they can also be etiopathogenic factors, causing diseases named chaperonopathies.

• Discusses strategies for diagnosis, patient monitoring, and treatment of disorders in which Hsp60 plays a role and can be used as biomarker and therapeutic target or agent
• Explains the fundamental biophysics, genetics, physiology, and pathogenicity of Hsp60
• Explores the mechanisms involving Hsp60 abnormalities causing disease, including carcinogenesis, inflammation, autoimmunity, and neurodegenerative disorders

Francesco Cappello is Full Professor of Anatomy and Histology at the University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy. He is also President of the Italian Society of Experimental Biology, Life member of the Cell Stress Society International and former Senior Editor of Cell Stress and Chaperones. He has been nominated “Adjunct Professor” at the Temple University of Philadelphia (PA, USA) and at the University of Texas Medical Branch of Galveston (TX, USA). He has authored more than 300 scientific papers.

Everly Conway de Macario is Adjunct Professor at the School of Medicine, University of Maryland at Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, USA. She has written 320 articles, authored 1 book and edited 8 books. Dr. Conway de Macario’s research interests include the development of the concept of sick chaperone or chaperonopathy as a factor contributing to the ageing process and disease, elucidation of the entire set of hsp70 genes in the human genome, and characterization of the whole complement of cct-Hsp60 genes in the human genome.

Alberto JL Macario is Adjunct Professor at the School of Medicine, University of Maryland at Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, USA. He has authored 380 articles, is the author of 1 book, and editor of 7 books. Dr. Macario is also Group Leader at the Euro-Mediterranean Institute of Science and Technology, Palermo, Italy. His current interests are chaperonopathies pertaining to Hsp60, Hsp10, and CCT genes/proteins.