Human resistin, a proinflammatory cytokine, shows chaperone-like activity.

This is a study of human resistin acting as a molecular chaperone. We show that human resistin, a proinflammatory cytokine secreted by human macrophages, is retained inside the cell during endoplasmic reticulum stress and functions like a chaperone to rescue the cell from apoptosis. The study implicates human resistin as a possible molecular link between cellular stress and inflammation during pathological conditions such as infections.