SummaryWe investigated the effect of heat shock on the fibrinolytic potential of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in culture. When cultured at 43° C, the mRNA for heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) was dramatically induced within 120 min with a maximal induction of more than 90-fold compared with that in HUVECs cultured at 37° C. The level of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) receptor (u-PAR) mRNA increased up to 2.2-fold in response to heat shock, which was associated with the increased u-PA binding and cell-surface u-PA activity determined by adding exogenous u-PA to acid-treated HUVECs. The increased u-PAR mRNA returned to normal level when HUVECs were further incubated at 37° C for 180 min, and this decline was not affected in the presence of actinomycin D. Though the secreted antigens for tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) and type 1 plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) in the conditioned medium (CM) of HUVECs were simultaneously increased at 43° C during this period, the increase in the levels of t-PA (about 26.6-fold at 120 min) was greater than that of PAI-1 (1.8-fold at 120 min). The fibrinolytic activity of CM obtained from HUVECs at 43° C was significantly enhanced up to 3-fold, indicating that heat shock induced hyperfibrinolytic states in HUVECs. The secretion of u-PA into CM was also enhanced by heat shock. These results suggested that human endothelial cells respond to hyperthermia by inducing HSP70 followed by hyperfibrinolytic states with the enhanced expression of u-PAR as well as that of t-PA and u-PA.
