Credit: Image courtesy of the Balch lab, The Scripps Research Institute.
This schematic shows the transition from a healthy protein folding state (green) to an unhealthy, maladaptive state (red)—a maladaptive stress response (MSR)—that occurs in response to chronic inherited disease or sustained exposure to environmental toxins, for example cigarette smoke. Therapeutics or a change in the environment could help restore more normal heat-shock-response (HSR) pathways and protein folding health.