The stress-inducible HspB8-Bag3 complex induces the eIF2alpha kinase pathway: implications for protein quality control and viral factory degradation?

The recently discovered HspB8-Bag3 complex participates in protein quality control through a mechanism that requires the activation of the eIF2alpha signaling pathway and that leads to protein synthesis inhibition and autophagy stimulation. Both processes help to protect the cells against the accumulation of aggregate-prone proteins, which may be relevant in many protein-conformational neurodegenerative disorders. Besides, this activity of HspB8-Bag3 may have important implications during viral infection.