Genes and Gene Networks in the Apoptosis Induced by Heat Stress in Human Leukemia U937 Cells

Abstract

Cancer cells exposed to heat stress of more than 42.5°C, the inflection point of hyperthermia, undergo cell death ; however, exposure to temperatures below the inflection point induces slight or no cytotoxicity. Due to the complexity of the heat stress signal, the molecular mechanisms involved in cellular responses to heat stress have remained a major challenge to investigations of hyperthermia. Currently the most powerful approaches to elucidating the heat stress response include the use of global-scale microarrays and bioinformatics tools. In this review, we summarize gene expression profiles in the cellular responses to heat stress obtained by these technologies in human lymphoma U937 cells under apoptotic and under non-apoptotic conditions, and we discuss differences in biological functions and gene networks responsive to heat stress between these conditions.