The heat shock proteins (HSPs) comprise a group of highly conserved, abundantly expressed proteins with diverse functions, including the assembly and sequestering of multi-protein complexes, the transportation of nascent polypeptide chains across cellular membranes and the regulation of protein folding. HSPA12A (heat shock 70kDa protein 12A) is a 675 amino acid protein that belongs to the HSP 70 family and is expressed in muscle, kidney and brain where it may play a role in cellular metabol