Overexpression of HSP-70 inhibits the phosphorylation of HSF1 by activating protein phosphatase and inhibiting protein kinase C activity

This laboratory reported previously that overexpressed heat shock protein 70 kDa (HSP-70) inhibited the activation of its transcriptional factor, HSF1. We had conducted experiments to understand the mechanisms whereby HSP-70 down-regulated the activation of HSF1. Genetically overexpressed HSP-70 had no effects on the HSF1 level in cytosol, but significantly inhibited phosphorylation of HSF1 in the nucleus. Transfection of cells with HSF1 cDNA resulted in increases in the unphosphorylated, but not phosphorylated, HSF1 levels in both the cytosol and nucleus. Because serine phosphorylation of various proteins was reduced in HSP-70 cDNA-transfected cells, we measured the activity of enzymes involved in serine phosphorylation. Overexpressed HSP-70 significantly inhibited the enzymatic activities of protein kinase A (PKA by 73 and 62% in the cytosol and membrane-bound fraction, respectively) and protein kinase C (PKC by 61% in membrane-bound fraction), whereas it activated that of protein phosphatase (PP by 33 ...