Bacterial toxins induce heat shock proteins in human neutrophils.

We studied the influence of different bacterial toxins (alveolysin; toxic shock syndrome toxin 1, TSST-1 and erythrogenic toxin A, ETA) on the expression of heat shock proteins (hsps) in isolated human polymorphonuclear granulocytes (PMNs). As was shown by Western blotting (anti-hsp72) ETA and TSST-1 were potent inducers of hsps at low toxin concentrations (10 ng/ml). Alveolysin led to the expression of hsps at hemolytic concentrations (1 HU; 700 ng/ml) whereas at subhemolytic concentrations (7 ng/ml) no heat shock response was observed. The induction of heat shock proteins was also accompanied by increased mRNA levels for hsp70 as was determined by PCR-analysis.