[Heat shock proteins in rheumatoid arthritis: friend or foe?].

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most common rheumatic diseases in the world. RA is a progressive and incurable systemic connective tissue disease with autoimmune background. Numerous reports indicate that the highly evolutionarily conserved heat shock proteins (HSP) are able to interact with the immune system. Recent research has shown that HSP play an important role in the regulation of chronic inflammation in RA, with the majority of information concerning the role of proteins belonging to the HSP70, HSP60 and HSP40 classes. This paper presents recent views on the role of HSP in the development of rheumatic diseases, as well as the potential for application of HSP in immunotherapy of patients suffering from RA.