there is however, a twist in the immunological role of hsp60. as mentioned above, there are two different types of hsp60 proteins, bacterial as well as mammalian. since they are very similar in sequence, bacterial hsp60 wouldn’t be expected to cause a large immune response in humans. the immune system is “designed to ignore ‘self’, that is, host constituents; however, paradoxically, this is not the case with chaperonins”. it has been found that many anti-chaperonin antibodies exist and are associated with many autoimmune diseases. according to ranford, et al. experiments have been performed which have shown that antibodies which are “generated by a human host after exposure to bacterial chaperonin 60 proteins” can cross-react with human chaperonin 60 proteins. bacterial hsp60 is causing the immune system to create anti-chaperonin antibodies, even though bacterial and human hsp60 have similar protein sequences. these new antibodies are then recognizing and attacking human hsp60 which causes an autoimmune disease. this suggests that hsp60 may play a role in autoimmunity, however more research needs to be done in order to discover more completely its role in this disease.