HSP27: Alternate Names

There aren’t many alternate names associated with Hsp27. This protein was described in the beginning of the 1980s when it was found that incubation of HeLa cells at elevated temperature was accompanied by synthesis of a previously unknown protein with apparent molecular mass of 27 kDa. Due to these characteristics, this protein has also been named Stress-responsive protein 27 (SRP27). Another name has been Estrogen-regulated 24 kDa protein since it is regulated by estrogen and progesterone on mammalian tissue⁷.  As stated before, the primary structure of Hsp27 is highly homologous to that of α-crystallin, the main eye lens protein. The genes coding similar proteins were detected earlier in many other species, and their products were marked as HSP25, HSP27, or HSP28. The human HSP27 gene is located in chromosome 7q11.23, and two pseudogenes are detected in the ninth and X-chromosomes²³. The protein product of this gene is referred to as HSP27, and called HSPB1 in the modern classification¹.