HSPB1 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Previous evidence supports the idea of HSPB1 as an extracellular protein with disease relevance: Elevated levels of HSPB1 are found in plasma after severe trauma (74), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (75), acute ischemic stroke (76), or during attacks in multiple sclerosis (77), as well as in various types of cancer including pancreatic carcinoma (78) or gastric adenocarcinoma (79).