Abstract: Objective To investigate the roles of heat shock factor 1(HSF-1) on the progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus and to explore the function and the potential mechanism of heat shock family in the progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus.Methods Western blot and real-time reverse transcription PCR(RT-PCR) were used to detect the expression of HSF-1 gene and protein.The effects of HSF-1 on insulin secretion and insulin signaling pathway in pancreatic β(INS-1) cell line at the presence of high concentration of glucose was also observed.Results Compared to those of the control,HSF-1 gene and protein in type 2 diabetic rats were conspicuously increased by 209.3% and 163.6%,respectively.Further study showed that the level of phosphorylated adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase(p-AMPK) in type 2 diabetic rats was obviously higher than that of the control.After partly knocked-out the gene of HSF-1,the secretion of insulin had no obvious change; however,compared to the wild-type cell lines,the level of p-AMPK in INS-1 cells significantly increased.Conclusion HSF-1 promotes the progression of type 2 diabetes.