Molecular chaperone HspB2 inhibited pancreatic cancer cell proliferation via activating p53 downstream gene RPRM, BAI1, and TSAP6.

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) were known as the molecular chaperones, which play a pivotal role in the protein quality control system, ensuring correct folding of proteins, and facilitating the correct refolding of damaged proteins via the transient interaction with their substrate proteins. They also practice in the regulation of cell cycles and are involved in apoptosis. We found that HspB2 was almost completely silent in pancreatic cancer and few studies investigated the role of HspB2 in cancer cells, particularly in pancreatic cancer. Here, we reported that HspB2 effectively inhibited cell proliferation in Panc-1 cells. Specifically, we demonstrated that HspB2 could combine mut-p53 and change the DNA binding site of mutant p53, subsequently upregulated the expression of RPRM, BAI-1, and TSAP6 which were the downstream genes of wt-p53, participate in mediating downstream responses to p53, including inhibiting cell proliferation and angiogenesis. The main aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between HspB2 and p53, and provide a novel treatment strategy for pancreatic cancer.