Constitutive expression of heat-shock protein 70 in mammalian cells confers thermoresistance.

A 70-kDa heat-shock-protein (hsp 70) expression vector which contains the human hsp 70 gene linked to the human beta-actin promoter, was constructed and used to transfect CV1 monkey cells. Stably transfected CV1 clones were isolated which constitutively synthesized increased amounts of hsp70 at normal temperature. It is shown that these clones are resistant to elevated temperature. This finding indicates that hsp70 is involved in the protection of the cells against a lethal heat treatment and maybe responsible for the phenomenon of thermotolerance.