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This review describes a brief history of the discovery and studies in Russia and associated countries of the main stress protein (Hsp70) that plays important roles both in the normal function of the cell and body as well as under various stressful stimuli. Research on this protein at the Institute of Molecular Biology (Moscow) began with the elucidation of its adaptive functions at the cellular level and at the level of the whole organism. These studies examined the function of Hsp70 under normal and extreme conditions using a wide range of model and non-model animal species, from Leishmania and Drosophila to camels and humans. These analyses made it possible to elucidate the primary regulations in the evolution and function of heat shock (HS) genes in the studied organisms. Next, we studied the structure and characteristic features of heat shock genes and proteins in species with contrasting habitat temperatures. The systems of Hsp70 expression and isolation we developed using various research objects allowed us to proceed to study the protective properties of human recombinant Hsp70 in normal-aging animal models as well as animal models experiencing sepsis, Alzheimer's disease, and stroke. The results obtained open the prospects of using recombinant Hsp70 for the treatment of various neuropathologies in humans. This review describes the logic and history of investigation of Hsp70 performed by one group of scientists from Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences. It was not the goal of this paper to give a comprehensive general picture of other similar studies carried out in Russia during this period., (© 2021. Cell Stress Society International.)

In response to heat shock or other metabolic insults, an increased expression of different heat shock proteins (hsps) and, in particular, members of the hsp70 family is observed in human cells. Using two-dimensional electrophoresis, we compared the pattern of hsp70 synthesis in human fibroblast cell lines isolated from two contrasting groups of individuals. The first group was represented by native Turk-men living in the hot desert of Middle Asia; the second group consisted of Russians living in moderate climatic regions of European Russia. This analysis has shown that fibroblasts isolated from Turkmen after severe heat shock exhibited intensive synthesis of all hsps in parallel with synthesis of many other cellular proteins, while only trace synthesis of hsps was observed in the second group (Russians). Surprisingly, Northern analysis of RNA synthesis failed to reveal any differences between the two groups after heat shock treatment. When survival of fibroblasts after severe heat shock treatment was assessed by colony formation assay, the cells of the first group exhibited significantly higher survival rates.