Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are a superfamily of molecular chaperones that were discovered through their ability to be induced by different stresses including heat shock. Other than their function as chaperones in proteins homeostasis, HSPs have been shown to inhibit different forms of cell death and to participate in cell proliferation and differentiation processes. Because cancer cells have to rewire their metabolism, they require a high amount of these stress-inducible chaperones for their survival. Therefore, HSPs are unusually abundant in cancer cells where they have oncogene-like functions. In cancer, HSPs have been involved in the regulation of apoptosis, immune responses, angiogenesis, metastasis and treatment resistance. Recently, HSPs have been shown to be secreted through exosomes by cancer cells. These tumor-derived exosomes can be used as circulating markers: HSP-exosomes have been reported as biomarkers of cancer dissemination, response to therapy and/or patient outcome. A new range of functions, mostly in modulation of anticancer immune responses, have been described for these extracellular HSPs. In this review, we will describe those recently reported functions of HSP-exosomes that makes them both targets for anticancer therapeutics and biomarkers for the monitoring of the disease. We will also discuss their emerging interest in cancer vaccines.

热休克蛋白 (HSP) 是分子伴侣的一个超家族，通过它们被不同压力（包括热休克）诱导的能力而被发现。除了它们在蛋白质稳态中作为伴侣的功能外，HSP 已被证明可以抑制不同形式的细胞死亡并参与细胞增殖和分化过程。因为癌细胞必须重新连接它们的新陈代谢，所以它们需要大量的这些压力诱导伴侣才能生存。因此，HSP 在具有癌基因样功能的癌细胞中异常丰富。在癌症中，HSP 参与细胞凋亡、免疫反应、血管生成、转移和治疗抵抗的调节。最近，HSP 已被证明是由癌细胞通过外泌体分泌的。这些源自肿瘤的外泌体可用作循环标志物：HSP-外泌体已被报道为癌症传播、对治疗的反应和/或患者结果的生物标志物。已经描述了这些细胞外 HSP 的一系列新功能，主要是调节抗癌免疫反应。在这篇综述中，我们将描述最近报道的 HSP-外泌体的功能，这些功能使它们成为抗癌治疗的靶点和疾病监测的生物标志物。我们还将讨论他们对癌症疫苗的新兴趣。我们将描述最近报道的 HSP-外泌体的功能，这些功能使它们成为抗癌治疗的靶标和监测疾病的生物标志物。我们还将讨论他们对癌症疫苗的新兴趣。我们将描述最近报道的 HSP-外泌体的功能，这些功能使它们成为抗癌治疗的靶标和监测疾病的生物标志物。我们还将讨论他们对癌症疫苗的新兴趣。