Therapeutic perspectives of heat shock proteins and their protein-protein interactions in myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction (MI) is one of major causes of human death around the world. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are a large family of conserved proteins, which can promote correct protein folding, maintain protein stability, and regulate cell metabolism, cellular homeostasis and other biological processes as molecular chaperones. Notable, HSPs are involved in MI-related pathophysiology, such as apoptosis, inflammatory response and oxidative stress. Here, we review recent studies and systematically summarize the role of HSPs in MI and myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (MIRI) and discuss the role of direct and indirect protein-protein interactions (PPI) of HSP complexes in the pathophysiology and therapeutic strategies of myocardial infarction. A comprehensive understanding of the cardioprotective role of PPIs of HSP complexes in myocardial infarction can provide new insights for MI or MIRI therapy.