heat shock protein family B (small) member 8

Normal function

The HSPB8 gene provides instructions for making a protein called heat shock protein beta-8. This protein is a member of the heat shock protein family, which helps protect cells that are under stress from factors such as infection, inflammation, exposure to toxins, elevated temperature, injury, and disease. Heat shock proteins block signals that lead cells to self-destruct (undergo apoptosis). In addition, they appear to be involved in cell movement, stabilizing the cell's structural framework (the cytoskeleton), folding and stabilizing newly produced proteins, and repairing damaged proteins. Heat shock proteins also seem to play a role in the tensing of muscle fibers (muscle contraction).

Heat shock protein beta-8 is found in cells throughout the body, where it helps fold newly produced proteins and refold damaged proteins. Heat shock protein beta-8 seems to interact with a related protein called heat shock protein beta-1, which is produced from the HSPB1 gene. In nerve cells (neurons), heat shock protein beta-1 helps to organize a network of molecular threads called neurofilaments that maintain the structure of a part of the neuron called the axon. This allows neurons to transmit nerve impulses efficiently. The specific role that heat shock protein beta-8 plays in axons is unclear.

Conditions referring to this gene or chromosome

• Maladie de Charcot-Marie-Tooth

• Distal hereditary motor neuropathy, type II

• Myofibrillar myopathy

Other names

H11

heat shock protein beta-8

HSP22

HspB8

HSPB8_HUMAN

protein kinase H11